Vietnamese delegation calls for enhancing ties with Sri Lanka

A Vietnamese delegation visiting Sri Lanka has expressed interest in increasing solidarity and enhancing ties between the two countries.The delegation headed by the Vice chairperson of the National Assembly of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, accompanied by Vietnamese parliamentarians and the Vietnamese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ton Sinh Thanh, called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday (Feb. 28) at Temple Trees.

Sri Lanka, Vietnam hold bilateral discussions, sign MoUs and agreements

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, accompanied by several ministers and senior officials held bilateral discussions with the visiting Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and his delegation today at the Presidential Secretariat with a view to exploring opportunities for strengthening bilateral relations.

Vietnam President to visit Sri Lanka tomorrow, open embassy in Colombo

The President of Vietnam, Truong Tan Sang, accompanied by his wife and a high-powered business delegation is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka from October 13-15 on an invitation extended by his Sri Lankan counterpart President Mahinda Rajapaksa , the Ministry of External Affairs announced today.

Vietnam to establish diplomatic mission in Sri Lanka

Vietnam is to establish a resident diplomatic mission in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo early next year, government media reported today.

Donors pledge over $8 billion in aid to Vietnam next year

International donors on Friday pledged more than $8 billion in official development assistance to Vietnam for next year, a surge of more than 60% from pledges for 2009 and the highest on record.
Japan, Vietnam's single biggest donor of development assistance, called ODA, will offer $1.64 billion. It suspended aid earlier this year for several months over a corruption scandal involving a Japanese-funded project.

The World Bank offered $2.5 billion and the Asian Development Bank pledged $1.48 billion at the annual Consultative Group (CG) donors' meeting.

The Southeast Asian country's planning ministry has forecast that it will have attracted about $5 billion in pledges in 2009, with $3 billion disbursed, state media reported.

Donors lauded recent steps by the government to realign its macroeconomic policy toward stability, including a currency devaluation and interest rate hike.

Several Western development partners, including the United States and European Union, also stressed the need for better protection of freedom of expression and other rights.

The World Bank' representative in Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa, said a key theme was improving business competitiveness and reinvigorating state-owned enterprise reform.

"I think the message from donors to government is to really move forward on this and to move forward in a bold way," she said.

The increased ODA comes with Vietnam's economy on track to grow around 5% this year, according to government figures.

Vietnam is also likely to cross the middle income threshold of having average annual per capita income of at lease $1,000 next year, which will have an affect on the composition of future aid and is likely to impact the total volume.

The World Bank and other development partners were already beginning to discuss how the annual Consultative Group meeting should change as middle income status alters Vietnam''s eligibility for certain types of assistance, Kwakwa said.

"We don't expect that there will be a major cut-off, just like that. I think that it will be more gradual and in a way that responds to the needs that the country still has," Kwakwa said.

Mark Kent, the British ambassador, said this CG had already started to look at those challenges.

"While obviously keeping the focus on poverty reduction is going to be important still, increasingly we are going to be looking at other challenges if Vietnam wants to keep on moving up the value chain, things like dealing with corruption, dealing with infrastructure," he said.

Climate change figured prominently this year, and a United Nations official said earlier in the week that future soft loans and other development aid to Vietnam could be dominated by climate change-related projects.

Vietnam is recognised as one of the most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, including rising sea level.