At the meeting between Ambassador Giorgio Aliberti, head of the European Union Delegation to Vietnam, and Auditor General Tran Sy Thanh (Photo: VNA)

Providing 210 million euros in non-refundable aid

Ambassador Giorgio Aliberti, head of the European Union Delegation to Vietnam, on February 23 affirmed that the EU will provide 210 million euros in non-refundable aid to Vietnam for the period 2021-2024.

At a meeting with Auditor General Tran Sy Thanh in Hanoi, as Vietnam Plus reported, Aliberti said from 2021, the EU has agreed to support Vietnam through a multilateral cooperation program.

Under the program, during the 2021-2024 period, the EU will provide 210 EUR in non-refundable aid for Vietnam, he said, adding that with the package, the SAV will become an important partner of the EU in the time ahead.

Aliberti stressed the EU’s commitment to technical assistance to the SAV to enable the office to access and utilize international standards while helping Vietnam strengthen its governance system.

For his part, Thanh hailed the ambassador’s contribution in his capacity as head of the EU Delegation to Vietnam, especially his role in urging the EU to ratify the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA).

The Auditor-General briefed Aliberti on his office’s operations last year, notably its Chairmanship of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for the 2018-2021 tenure.

The office has also issued a mid-term auditing plan for 2022-2024, and another plan for 2022, which are associated with the strategy on SAV development by 2030.

The SAV will continue to serve as an effective, essential tool of the Party and the State in inspecting and supervising the management and use of finance and public assets, Thanh said.

He thanked the EU for its great support to the SAV since the establishment of the office, highlighting the EU’s major projects for Vietnam with total funding of 3.9 million EUR.

Also, the country would diversify its energy sources, focusing on developing clean and renewable energy via wind power, solar power, biomass power, and waste to energy power, aiming to increase the share of clean energy to at least 20 percent by 2030 and 30 percent by 2045 in its total primary energy supply, as Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said.

At COP26, Vietnam was among a 190-strong coalition of countries and organizations pledging to phase out coal-fueled power generation and stop building new plants, VIR reported.

Executive Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans (Photo: Bao Tai Nguyen Moi Truong)

Recently, Executive Vice President of the European Commission (EC) Frans Timmermans has expressed his wish to step up cooperation with Vietnam in green energy development.

During his three-day visit to Vietnam from Feb. 17 to 19 to discuss Vietnam’s promises at the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Scotland last November, Timmermans said "Vietnam has taken an ambitious step forward by setting a target of net zero emissions by 2050. This is an important goal that requires first and foremost a halt to new coal-fired power projects that have no technologies to keep carbon dioxin."

Outstanding achievements

Despite the pandemic, Vietnam and the EU have maintained contact and exchanged delegations at all levels. President Nguyen Xuan Phuc met European Council President Charles Michel on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last September.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) last November. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue paid an official visit to the EU last September.

Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

According to VOV News, the EU is currently Vietnam’s largest non-refundable aid donor, third-largest export market, fifth-largest import market, and sixth largest investor. In 2021, bilateral trade turnover reached more than 63 billion USD, 15% higher than in 2020.

By the end of last year, 25 out of 27 EU countries had invested nearly 22 billion USD in 2,300 projects in Vietnam. Between 2014 and 2020, the EU provided more than 450 million USD of non-refundable aid to Vietnam and pledged to finance nearly 240 million USD until 2024.

The EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was a new milestone in the bilateral relationship. Since the deal took effect in August 2020, it has moved Vietnam from being the EU’s 17th largest trade partner to the 15th largest, making Vietnam the EU's largest trade partner in ASEAN.

Vietnam and the EU have strengthened cooperation in science, technology, health, justice, education, energy, climate change, and natural disaster response. The EU has been supporting policies on energy development and access to sustainable energy for rural, mountainous, and island areas, circular economy solutions for marine plastic waste, and sustainable energy transformation.

The EU is a big provider of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam. EU members have pledged or donated 40 million vaccine doses through COVAX, TEAM EUROPE, and other mechanisms, as well as additional medical supplies.

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