Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc received Director General of the OPEC Fund for InternationalDevelopment (OFID) Abdulhamid Alkhalifa in Hanoi on August 27, saying that OFID-fundedprojects have helped to improve Vietnamese people’s lives.

PM Phuc highlighted the sound relationshipbetween the OFID and Vietnam over the last four decades with 20 projects andprogrammes in transport, irrigation, poverty reduction, health care, educationand urban development in many Vietnamese localities, which have helped to improveconsiderably living conditions of local residents, especially in rural areas.

Alkhalifa’s ongoing working visit and thesigning of a financing agreement for a transport infrastructure improvementproject in Da Nang city are another milestone for a new period of cooperationbetween the Vietnamese Government and the OFID, he said.

The OFID Director General said it’s now theright time for the two sides to lift their cooperation to a new level, addingthat the OFID is ready to support Vietnam’s development and be a good partnerof the country.

At the meeting, PM Phuc said although Vietnamhas become a middle-income country, there remain many disadvantaged areas andthey are in need of investment resources, especially for infrastructureimprovement. 

Therefore, the Vietnamese Government hopes theOFID will continue providing technical assistance, particularly in the fieldsit has funding experience in, through non-refundable aid and help the countryaccess the fund’s loans with more preferential interest rates, thereby creatingconditions for residents in those areas to develop, he noted.

The PM affirmed that Vietnam will coordinatewith the OFID to build projects and programmes that meet both the fund’spriorities and the country’s socio-economic development orientations.

Alkhalifa highly valued the PM’s proposals,saying that they will help the OFID orient its operations in Vietnam in thetime ahead.

He said the OFID is funding 14 projects withnon-refundable aid in Vietnam, and it is seriously realising its commitments inthese projects.

The OFID Director General also expressed hishope that the Vietnamese Government, ministries and sectors will back the fund’sefforts to cooperate with and assist the country’s private sector and small-and medium-sized enterprises.-VNA