Germany’s deputy director-general at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Gisela Hammerschmidt, and Việt Nam’s deputy director General of the Department of Debt Management and External Economic Relations at the Ministry of Finance, Hoàng Hải sign an agreements. Photo courtesy of German Embassy

HÀ NỘI — Germany and Việt Nam would intensify their cooperation even further in the coming years with the total assistance worth 185.5 million euros (US$215.8 million) for development projects over the next two years.

This was the outcome of the bilateral government negotiations between Germany and Việt Nam, held last week in Hà Nội co-headed by Germany’s deputy director-general at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Gisela Hammerschmidt, and Việt Nam’s deputy director General of the Department of Debt Management and External Economic Relations at the Ministry of Finance, Hoàng Hải.

Of this amount, €25.5 million was committed for advisory projects under technical cooperation. In addition, Germany will provide €160 million for sustainable investments in enterprises.

Both countries aim to deepen their collaboration in the fields of renewable energy and vocational training. A new focus will be placed on closer cooperation with the private sector. Economically and development-politically, Germany is already Việt Nam’s most important partner in Europe – and this partnership will now become even more closely aligned.

Furthermore, an important breakthrough was achieved with the agreement on the Technical Cooperation Guidelines (TC-Guidelines), which foresee a significant acceleration and improved coordination of procedures for project appraisal and implementation, as well as greater efficiency in cooperation at project level.

Since the beginning of development cooperation, Germany has provided Việt Nam with more than €3 billion. VNS