Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang (right) receives Executive Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Yamada Junichi. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Trần Lưu Quang received Executive Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Yamada Junichi in Hà Nội on Tuesday.

Welcoming the JICA official to Việt Nam to attend the launch of the first phase of the Việt Nam-Japan joint initiative in the new era, Deputy PM Quang briefed the guest on Việt Nam's national budget management mechanisms as well as the country’s recent efforts to remove difficulties and obstacles to speed up the progress of projects using Japanese ODA.

For his part, Yamada said that recently, Japan's ODA disbursement rate has increased significantly, with the amount of slow disbursement at about 1.8 billion JPY (11.86 million USD), much lower than that in previous years thanks to the drastic direction of the Vietnamese Government.

The JICA Executive Senior Vice President affirmed that the agency is ready to discuss with Việt Nam about the implementation of 11 infrastructure development projects in localities, including the consideration of the possibility for these projects to be bid domestically instead of internationally to shorten investment preparation time.

He suggested that Việt Nam build a separate legal framework for additional loans outside the medium-term budget plan from JICA as well as other donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Lauding JICA’s recommendations, Deputy PM Quang proposed that the two sides work together on the suitable interest rates and each specific project.

The two sides concurred to coordinate closely to remove difficulties and obstacles facing each project, including those related to tax rates for Japanese contractors implementing ODA projects, thus speeding up the progress of delayed projects, especially the Chợ Rẫy Hospital No.2 and the Việt Nam-Japan University.

Japan is currently Việt Nam's largest ODA provider. Since 1992, Japan has provided Việt Nam with over 2,700 billion JPY in ODA loans, along with nearly 100 billion JPY in non-refundable aid and nearly 180 billion JPY in technical assistance. Japan's ODA accounts for over 30 per cent of bilateral development aid that Việt Nam has received. In 2023, Japan's total ODA capital for Việt Nam reached more than 100 billion JPY, the highest level since 2017. — VNS