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Deputy Governor Lê Minh Hùng of the State Bank of Việt Nam Nam represented the Government, and ADB Country Director for Việt Nam Tomoyuki Kimura represented the ADB. Mr. Shigeru Kishida, Second Secretary of the Japanese Embassy and other senior officials of the Government witnessed the ceremony.
“To raise incomes and reduce poverty in rural areas, the country needs to increase agricultural production and consequently increase employment opportunities,” said Mr. Kimura. “And that could not be done without development of effective rural infrastructure which is at the core of both economic growth and social development.”
Despite recent high rates of economic growth, low household incomes and poverty persist in rural areas of Việt Nam. One of the main reasons for this, especially in the Red River Delta region, is small land-holdings and limited access to productive resources, particularly, water resources.
The grant by the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, which is to be administered by ADB, will be part of ADB’s ongoing and continuing efforts to assist the Government to more effectively use its natural resources and contribute to higher levels of agricultural production, expand employment opportunities, and increase rural household incomes and reduce poverty.
The technical assistance grant will finance the preparation of the project, which intends to upgrade water resources infrastructure covering over 50,000 hectares in the four provinces of Phú Thọ, Vĩnh Phúc, Bắc Giang and Bắc Ninh in the mid- and northeast Red River Delta.
In addition to the physical infrastructure upgrading works, the project will also promote economic development through associated rural development support activities, and promote the training of personnel of irrigation and drainage management companies as well as strengthen the cadre of personnel engaged in water resources infrastructure improvement and management.
By Hương Giang