New cooperation programme with Vietnam
As a result of the joint committee meetings in Hanoi on 21 June 2011, a new Indicative Cooperation Programme (ICP), worth €60 million, was signed between Belgium and Vietnam for the 2011-2015 period.
According to Olivier Chastel, Minister for Development Cooperation, “this new partnership is an important step in strengthening our cooperation with Vietnam, which is the last Asian partner country of the Belgian Development Cooperation”. The programme is part of the Vietnamese plan for social-economic development in 2011-2015.
The coming four years will see emphasis placed on both the reform of the governmental administration and on water and sanitary facilities. These are sectors in which Belgium is already active and which are extremely important to Vietnam.
The modernisation of the management of government administration is an important reform for better governance, which in turn is also an essential component of sustainable socio-economic development.
In a society that is characterised by high-speed industrialisation and urbanisation, and which is very vulnerable to the consequences of climate change, a coherent policy concerning water and waste treatment, and concerning urban planning, is of vital importance.
The multidisciplinary reinforcement of capacities will be an important component of the new cooperation programme. “The purpose of our cooperation is to gradually strengthen the institutional and organisational capacities in our partners’ main development sectors,” says Olivier Chastel.
A contribution will also be reserved, as part of a delegated cooperation, for a United Nations programme that must support Vietnam in its efforts to improve parliamentary follow-up and monitoring, in increasing its fight against corruption, and in increasing the involvement of citizens, the media and local civil society in issues such as policy planning.
Source: dg-d.be
