Urgent International Aid Agreement from The Asian Development Bank helps people overcome natural disasters in some central provinces (25-12-2020)

On November 24, 2020, in Hanoi, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong - Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Mr. Andrew Jeffries - the Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed a 2.5 million USD Non-Refundable Urgent International Aid Agreement from the ADB for overcoming disaster from recent floods in several central provinces.
Urgent International Aid Agreement from The Asian Development Bank helps people overcome natural disasters in some central provinces

The aid was extracted from the ADB's Asia-Pacific Disaster Response Fund, which was established to provide emergency assistance to member countries severely affected by natural disasters.

Based on the assessment of the delegation conducted by the Disaster Risk Mitigation Partnership, the United Nations Office of National Coordination and other partners in the central provinces of VietNam, ADB agrees to provide the above-mentioned aid for disaster remedies under the direction of MARD (through the Vietnam Disaster Management Authority) in order to support people to gradually restore their daily life and production; to stabilize their lives after natural disasters.

At the signing ceremony, the Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong, said: "First of all, on behalf of the Government and MARD, I would like to thank the extremely timely and effective help of ADB - the Co-Chairman of the Disaster Risk Mitigation Partnership.

The year 2020 is a year of terrible natural disasters, especially from mid-September to mid-November. In a very short period of time, the entire central region was affected by 9 typhoons, 2 low pressures. This is an unprecedented phenomenon  in history. In particular, there are places where rainfall is very heavy, causing heavy damage to people and property in which 235 people died and went missing. Initial losses were about 30,000 billion VND. The Party, the State, the Government and the political system from central to local levels have focused on forecasting, preventing, responding and overcoming consequences, thus minimizing the damage to the lowest level.

The Government of Vietnam has supported people with 16,000 tons of rice and equipment for daily life to gradually restore the lives of people affected by floods. Some organizations and the whole people across the country together aroused the extensive philanthropy movement towards the Central. In this general context, we welcome ADB and 32 other international organization members who have directly supported Vietnam over 21 million USD. This timely support is essential for the people and the Government of Vietnam: not only is material values but also the spiritual value and sharing of the international community with Vietnam. MARD will work closely with localities so that the help of ADB and its members can reach people efficiently and quickly. Today, MARD and ADB will sign an Aid Agreement with 2.5 million USD of the total aid mentioned above. We will work with ADB to provide this support to the people who suffered the damages in some central provinces."

However, the restoration of critical infrastructure as well as overcoming the severe consequences caused by natural disasters in recent years requires more efforts of the Governments, Ministries and localities directly affected by typhoons and floods; more support of both domestic and foreign organizations and individuals. Therefore, MARD and ADB are currently coordinating to propose the Government's approval of an urgent assistance loan to repair and rebuild infrastructure, particularly prioritizing important constructions to quickly restore socio-economic activities in central provinces severely affected by floods. The ADB is also working closely with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in emergency assistance.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Cuong added: "We greatly appreciate the ADB's pioneering role in coordinating with MARD to propose projects to restore infrastructure affected by natural disasters in Vietnam. The specialized agencies of MARD, in collaboration with ADB in Vietnam, conduct with the fastest speed the procedures of the project proposal to be presented to the Government of Vietnam"

Mr. Andrew Jeffries -  the Country Director of ADB in Viet Nam, said: "Regarding the urgency and complexity of the involvement of many provinces, in order to have the emergency assistance loans been quickly approved and effectively implemented, it is important to have special processes and procedures. The Government assigns MARD as the lead agency to implement and to take primary responsibility in coordinating and managing disaster recovery activities. Once approved, the ADB's emergency assistance loan will be used as part of the Government's budget to support the provinces severely affected by floods. The ADB expects the Government to approve the loan soon in a shortened process so that they can sign the emergency assistance loan by March 2021".

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