FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT REGULATING DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION BETWEEN THE NETHERLANDS AND VIETNAM WILL BE SIGNED TODAY
Hanoi, 24 October 2000
On 24 October the governments of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam will sign a framework agreement regulating development cooperation between the two countries. The agreement will be signed in Hanoi by the Netherlands Ambassador Mrs. Monique Frank and Vietnamese Vice-Minister for Planning and Investment Mr. Vo Hong Phuc.
The framework agreement forms an important step in the bilateral relations between the two countries and will form the basis for further cooperation in the field of development. It defines regulations for the projects and programmes and the personnel employed in the development relation between the Netherlands and Vietnam.
Vietnam is one of a limited number of poor countries with which the Netherlands has a bilateral structural assistance relationship. In the selection of countries the level of poverty, the policies for poverty reduction and the governance environment were taken into account.
To enhance aid effectiveness Vietnam and the Netherlands decided in September 1999 in joint consultation to concentrate the bilateral cooperation in three sectors of priority:
– Forestry and Biodiversity;
– Water management and Water Transport;
– Health.
The Netherlands spends yearly 0.8% of its GDP on development cooperation. The total budget for development is approximately 3.8 billion Euro (3.2 billion USD), making The Netherlands the sixth donor country worldwide in absolute terms. In 1999 the Dutch development cooperation with Vietnam totaled more than 9.3 million Euro (7.82 million USD). The expected disbursement from the Netherlands for development cooperation with Vietnam comprises 13.16 million Euro (11.07 million USD) in grants in 2000.
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For more information, please contact the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Hanoi (Ms. Marona van den Heuvel) at tel. 8315650.
