HÀ NỘI — A new collaboration on providing the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) support to the General Statistics Office (GSO) and other partners was signed on Tuesday in Hà Nội.

With a total budget of US$5.6 million for four years from 2017 to 2021, of which $4.3 million is funded by the UNFPA, the project aims to provide technical support to the Government of Việt Nam in collecting and utilising quality population-related data and evidence for development, amendment, implementation and monitoring of socio-economic policies, strategies and planning to achieve sustainable and harmonious development of the population, economy, society and the environment of Việt Nam.

The signing ceremony was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), GSO, the Parliamentary Committee for Social Affairs (PCSA) and Việt Nam’s Fatherland Front Central Committee (VFF), as well as representatives of the Central Committee on Popularisation and Education (CCPE), the UN agencies and development partners in Việt Nam.

Addressing the ceremony, Nguyễn Bích Lâm, GSO general director, said "In the past 40 years of cooporation between Việt Nam and the UNFPA, the GSO has shown its professional capacity in effectively receiving technical assistance from the UNFPA.”

“We commit to implementing the activities during the period 2017-21 at the highest capacity, especially towards the implementation of Việt Nam’s Statistical Strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals," he said.

Astrid Bant, UNFPA Representative in Việt Nam, said "We hope this project, through multi-sectoral coordination, will play a key role in strengthening the capacity of GSO and relevant partners in collecting, analysing, disseminating and utilising information on population, reproductive health and gender, contributing to the implementation and monitoring of socio-economic development policies and the Plan of Action of Sustainable Development Goals." — VNS