Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc receives Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Abdulhamid Alkhalifa in Hà Nội on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc received Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Abdulhamid Alkhalifa in Hà Nội on Tuesday, saying OFID-funded projects had helped improve Vietnamese people’s lives.

Phúc highlighted the sound relationship between the OFID and Việt Nam over the last four decades with 20 projects and programmes in transport, irrigation, poverty reduction, healthcare, education and urban development in many Vietnamese localities, which have helped improve living conditions, especially in rural areas.

Alkhalifa’s ongoing working visit and the signing of a financing agreement for a transport infrastructure improvement project in Đà Nẵng City were more milestones for a new period of co-operation between the Government and the OFID, he said.

The OFID Director General said it was the right time for the two sides to lift their co-operation to a new level, adding that the OFID was ready to support Việt Nam’s development and be a good partner of the country.

At the meeting, Phúc said although Việt Nam had become a middle-income country, there remained many disadvantaged areas in need of investment resources, especially for infrastructure improvement. 

Therefore, the Vietnamese Government hoped the OFID would continue providing technical assistance, particularly in fields it has funding experience in, through non-refundable aid and help the country access the fund’s loans with more preferential interest rates, creating conditions for residents in those areas to develop, he noted.

The PM said Việt Nam would co-ordinate with the OFID to build projects and programmes that meet both the fund’s priorities and the country’s socio-economic development plans.

Alkhalifa highly valued the PM’s proposals, saying they would help the OFID pan its operations in Việt Nam.

He said the OFID was funding 14 projects with non-refundable aid in Việt Nam.

The OFID Director General also expressed his hope that the Vietnamese Government, ministries and sectors would back the fund’s efforts to co-operate with and assist the country’s private sector and small- and medium-sized enterprises. — VNS