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Press Release

20 May 2008

Launching of the Country Assistance Plan for Vietnam, 2007 – 2011

Hanoi, 20/5/2008 - Today, the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) officially launched the Country Assistance Plan (Plan) for Vietnam for 2007 – 2011 in Hanoi. Under this plan, the UK Government will provide annual grant aid of £50 million (approximately 100 million US dollars) to Vietnam until the year 2011. At the launch, DFID also introduced the new Head of the Vietnam Office, Ms. Fiona Lappin, who replaces Mr Donal Brown in August.

In the new Plan, DFID focuses on three areas:

  • Ensuring continued strong economic growth and opportunities for the poor as Vietnam integrates into the global economy;
  • Improving the quality and inclusiveness of basic services for the poor;
  • Promoting effective and accountable governance.

This is the second Country Assistance Plan (Plan) for Vietnam. It was developed following consultation with a range of partners, including key Government ministries, donors, non-governmental organisations, research institutions, and the private sector. It addresses the new socio-economic context of the country with the challenges, and described DFID’s proposed approach to help Vietnam make the most of aid.

Speaking about this important publication, Mr Donal Brown, Head of DFID Vietnam emphasised:

“The Country Assistance Plan demonstrates UK’s continuous commitment to the fight against poverty in Vietnam, aiming to help the country meet all Millennium Development Goals. Many people in Vietnam and the UK contributed to developing the plan. I believe it will provide an important framework for the UK’s contribution to the economic and social development of Vietnam.”

The Plan signals a change to DFID’s approach to Vietnam as it becomes a middle income country. There will be a gradual shift from an aid partnership to a broader development partnership, focusing on important global issues such as climate change, trade and governance.

The Plan is part of the 10 year Development Partnership Arrangement which Vietnamese and UK governments signed in September 2006. It is based on shared commitments to poverty reduction, governance, and respect for international human rights treaties to which both countries are signatories.

The Plan was launched in London, during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to the United Kingdom in March 2008, at his meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

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Notes to editors

1. Gordon Brown met the Prime Minister of Vietnam at 10 Downing Street on 5 March along with Douglas Alexander.

2. Those living in extreme poverty survive on less than $1 (50 pence) a day.

3. In 2006 DFID pledged to give £250 million to Vietnam from 2006-2011. The £100 million is part of that pledge but we are now able to announce who should receive the funds and how they will be used.

4. As Vietnam’s economic progress continues, the country is expected to move from a low income to a middle income country by about 2012, and the UK will gradually reduce the level of its aid by then. Economies are divided according to income per capita. The groups are: low income, $905 or less; lower middle income, $906 - $3,595; upper middle income, $3,596 - $11,115; and high income, $11,116 or more.

For further information please contact the DFID press office on 020 7023 0620.

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Facts about UK aid to Vietnam
 

The UK started giving aid to Vietnam in 1992 and has so far committed £500 million to relieve poverty.

UK aid has helped to:

  • Lift 500,000 people out of poverty and provide access to clean drinking water for 600,000 people through the Government’s national poverty programme for the poorest communes.
  • Increase primary school enrolment from 88% to 94% - equivalent to an extra 150,000 of the hardest to reach children in school.
  • Train 50,000 primary school teachers in ten out of 64 provinces, build 14,000 classrooms and increase quality of schooling for more than a million children.
  • Distribute 170 million condoms since 2003, and over 7 million needles and syringes in 2007 for HIV prevention in Vietnam.
  • Finance increased spending on health and education, for example ensuring that 15 million poor people have health insurance that gives them access to free healthcare.
  • Improve the status of women - the authorities are now recording the names of women as well as men on land titles. About 30% of total Land Use Certificates issued in 2004 recorded the name of both husband and wife.
 

By 2011, DFID, with other donors, aims to help Vietnam to:

  • Increase primary school completion rate for disadvantaged children to 100%.
  • Increase the population with hygienic sanitation to 75%.
  • Hold the spread of HIV to less than 1%.
  • Provide 100% of poorest communes with basic infrastructure.
  • Provide 100% of the poor with health insurance.
  • Increase wage employment in industry and services to 60%.
  • Increase efforts against corruption and set up an effective, new National Anti-Corruption Committee.
 

Vietnam facts

  • Vietnam has a population of 85 million. Over 74% of the population live in rural areas and 60% of the labour force work in the agricultural sector.
  • Poverty has declined sharply over the past 18 years from well over 70% in the mid-1980s to around 19.5% in 2004.
  • Vietnam is now among the fastest growing economies in Asia, with consistent GDP growth above 8% in recent years.
  • However, big challenges remain. Sixteen million people are still poor and 43 million people live on less than £1 a day.
  • Quality of education is still poor, with only 9% of poor children attending full-day schooling.
 

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