This was announced at the launching ceremony for the EU Blue Book, 2014 edition, held in Hanoi on June 25, summarising the latest policies, aid volumes and the fields for co-operation between the EU and Vietnam in 2013.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ambassador-Head of the EU Delegation in Vietnam Dr. Franz Jessen affirmed that the European Union and its 28 member states remained the biggest ODA donor worldwide in 2013 by disbursing EUR 56.5 billion, representing more than half of total global aid.
The EU registered a 2.4 percent increase in global aid compared with 2012 levels, demonstrating the union's engagement to its 2005 commitment to poverty reduction and inclusive growth.
As the leading grant donor to Vietnam, the EU has provided EUR 5.8 billion in cumulative commitments from 2007 to 2014, including EUR 2.4 billion (41 percent) in grants and EUR 3.4 billion in concessional loans.
The EU’s ODA disbursement to Vietnam in the 2007–2013 period amounted to EUR 3.6 billion, of which 55 percent was disbursed as non-refundable aid (EUR 2 billion). In 2013 alone, the EU disbursed EUR 456 million, including EUR 191 million in non-refundable aid.
Data analysis of 2007 to 2014 commitments shows that, despite the global economic crisis, the EU ensured a similar level of financial engagement to Vietnam, proving the importance of the relationship between the two parties.
Dr. Jessen said the bilateral assistance allocated to Vietnam by the EU and its member states over the past 20 years has helped the country achieve its overall objectives of poverty reduction, socio-economic development and further integration into the regional and world economies.
He also confirmed the EU's strong commitment to supporting Vietnam’s development, trade ambitions and international commitments by maintaining significant levels of aid for the coming years, signing a free trade agreement by the year’s end and intensifying political relations.
In order to accelerate the disbursement of EU’s ODA in Vietnam in the coming time, Dr. Jessen recommended that the Vietnamese Government should carefully consider the disbursement process and positively facilitate reform of administrative procedures.
Referring to the current tensions in the East Sea since China illegally placed its Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig in Vietnamese waters, Jessen said the event would not affect the provision of EU’s ODA to Vietnam, as the co-operation policies and programmes between the two parties were long-term commitments that have been nurtured over the last 20 years.
The EU has always been responsible and careful with its grants and its experts responsible for ODA to Vietnam confirmed that there has been no trouble with EU’s ODA disbursement in the country so far, he affirmed.
The Green Book’s topic this year focuses on poor ethnic minorities in Vietnam, which account for less than 15 percent of the total population but constitute nearly half of the poor in the country.
Despite important progress in poverty reduction in this segment of the population, the poverty rate of ethnic minorities is higher than the national average. The publication also reviewed a number of challenges for Vietnam to resolve and work out the next steps to overcome these challenges.