President of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka attends a press conference in Hà Nội on Saturday as part of his official visit to Việt Nam. — Photo vnexpress.net

HÀ NỘI – Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) co-operation in Việt Nam had been successful, said President of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka in a press conference in Hà Nội on Saturday as part of his official visit to Việt Nam.

Japan’s ODA co-operation in Việt Nam was one of the most successful co-operations of Japan, thanks to the two countries’ efforts, he said.

The two countries often worked to find the best form and sector in which to work together.

President Kitaoka said that Japan spent a large amount on Southeast Asia including Việt Nam, Myanmar, Indonesia and Philippines. Of all those countries, Việt Nam received the greatest amount of aid.

At present, Japan supported 60 per cent of bilateral ODA to Việt Nam.

Japan had supported Indonesia for 50 years, whereas it had supported Việt Nam for only 20 years, but the quantity and quality of the support was in no way inferior, he said.

“The quality of Japan’s ODA support to Việt Nam is very good,” said Presient Kitaoka.

To uphold ODA co-operation effectively in the future, President Kitaoka said that the two countries should define which projects need priority, and discuss the search for suitable methods.

Việt Nam would use ODA successfully when the country balanced infrastructure and other sectors including education, health and insurance, he said.

Developed countries such as the US and UK supported African countries since the 1950s, but Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in different countries in the Sahara Desert is only about US$1,000 per year.

Whereas in Southeast Asia, the figure in Việt Nam is more than $2,000, and the figure in some other countries in the area is nearly $10,000.

“Fairly, countries receiving support from Japan have more developed economies,” he said.

Via the visit, Kitaoka found out that Japan should continue to support Việt Nam in developing infrastructure.

“Transport in Việt Nam develops quickly compared with four or five years ago when I first came to the country, and most of the residents can use automobiles in the next 10 years,” he said.

Thus the country could develop the system of metro.

President Kitaoka expressed his hope that the two countries would promote their co-operation, limit harms caused by climate change, reduce the rich-and-poor gap and join hands in training work forces.

JICA would work with the Vietnamese Government to discuss the priority order for different projects, he said. – VNS