Japan, France Help Vietnam Respond to Climate Change

Monday, June 21, 2010 (GMT+7)

JICA chief representative in Vietnam Motonori Tsuno, France's AFD chief representative in Vietnam Alain Henry and Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha concluded a US$134 million loan agreement on June 17, for the Support Program To Respond to Climate Change (SP-RCC).

Of this US$134 million loan, the Japanese government will provide JPY10 billion (about US$110 million) and the French government 20 million euro (about US$24 million).

SP-RCC follows Japan's initiative to support developing countries to respond to climate change, which is threatening many countries across the world including Vietnam.

Motonori Tsuno said that Vietnam will be one of the countries hardest hit by climate change, and for this reason helping Vietnam in this field is JICA's (Japan International Cooperation Agency) top priority.

SP-RCC not only helps Vietnam implement the National Target Program To Respond to Climate Change but is also a forum for Vietnam, development partners and donors to talk about policies to increase the efficiency of foreign assistance for Vietnam in this field.

Alain Henry said that through SP-RCC AFD is ready to help Vietnam develop strategies on dissemination of the principles on energy efficiency and renewable energy development to reduce green-house effects and improve the economy's resistance to external changes (like the increase in the price of gasoline), while ensure national energy security by reducing the reliance on fuel imports.

Vietnam was the second country in Asia (after Indonesia) to receive preferential loans from Japan and France to respond to climate change./.
 

Source: VEN.VN