Vietnam Economic Infrastructure Development Forum

On Tuesday, September 25th, 2018 DevelopmentAid held the Vietnam Economic Infrastructure Development Forum in Hanoi. The event brought forward delegates from stakeholders of the development sector in the region, among which were Bruno Angelet, Ambassador of European Union Delegation to Vietnam; Norio Saito, Deputy Country Director for Vietnam Resident Mission at Asian Development Bank; Tetsuo Konaka, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Vietnam Office; Craig Hart, Deputy Mission Director of USAID Vietnam; Anna Wielogorska, Lead Procurement Specialist at the World Bank in Vietnam; and others.

“DevelopmentAid brought together international country partner institutions such as the ADB, European Commission, the World Bank, JICA and USAID to help local companies and international firms that work in Vietnam to learn about the opportunities in the pipeline as well as the best practices of working with these organizations,” explained Sergiu Casu, Business Development Director, DevelopmentAid.

During the event, speakers focused on procurement procedures while showcasing upcoming funding opportunities to the audience.

“Overall, the objective of ADB is to support a more inclusive and empower sustainable growth in Vietnam,” emphasized Norio Saito, Deputy Country Director for Vietnam Resident Mission at ADB.

”The new Country Partnership Strategy for 2016-2020 for Vietnam is based on three pillars. The first pillar is to support job creation and competitiveness of the country, specifically, through PPP-type of projects or private sector operations, but also to improve the governance and institutions in the country. Second is to support more inclusive infrastructure delivery and services, meaning basic services to urban citizens, and improve transport infrastructure. Since Vietnam is vulnerable to climate change impact, the third pillar is environmental sustainability and climate change response. Thus, we intend to strengthen our support to climate change mitigation and adaptation, but also to natural resource management, to ensure that the country’s development is more environmentally sustainable.” concluded Norio Saito.

In 2015 and 2016 the disbursements of development assistance to Vietnam saw a decrease as an effect of the country entering the group of middle-income countries. 

 “I think this will be the main change – we will be looking how to involve the private sector in development,” Anna Wielogorska, Lead Procurement Specialist at the World Bank in Vietnam, commented on Vietnam’s graduation from concessional lending and what changes does it bring to the plans and the operations of the World Bank in Vietnam.

The event also offered the stage to innovation pitches and testimonials where the director of the Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI), Tung Phung Duc, one of DevelopmentAid members, showcased the implementation of a World Bank financed water and sanitation project in Red River Delta of Vietnam.

The goal of the Economic Infrastructure Development Forum was to strengthen a progressive dialogue by identifying best practices in cooperating with donors, expediting innovative business ideas and creating a network for stakeholders in the economic infrastructure development sector. The event was organized in partnership with the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam.