ADB president backs Vietnam’s 'Era of National Rise'

ADB president backs Vietnam’s 'Era of National Rise'

President of the Asian Development Bank Masato Kanda met Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on May 31, congratulating him on his historic re-election and expressing strong support for Vietnam’s new phase of high-quality, innovation-driven growth under the “Era of National Rise” agenda.

“ADB and Vietnam have built one of the region’s most enduring development partnerships,” Kanda said. “We strongly commend the country’s transformational leadership and are moving quickly to support Vietnam in accelerating infrastructure investments, strengthening energy resilience, deepening regional links, and building a more competitive and resilient economy.”

To help sustain Vietnam’s ambitious growth targets, ADB is developing a 2026–2029 pipeline of projects totalling $5 billion to $6 billion, including about $4.5 billion in proposed ADB financing.

The pipeline includes a proposed $500 million policy-based loan to implement reforms to strengthen trade and competitiveness and to secure Vietnam’s position as a preferred destination for foreign direct investment. The broader pipeline encompasses projects in agriculture and rural development, water and urban development, transport, energy, and education.

Amid heightened global uncertainties, ADB is supporting regional power connections under the ASEAN Power Grid initiative to bolster energy security. This includes supporting Vietnam and Laos in advancing collaboration on cross-border electricity connections to meet Vietnam’s plans to import 8 GW of power from Laos in the near term, easing transmission bottlenecks, and strengthening regional energy security. ADB is also in early-stage discussions on possible support for a Vietnam–Malaysia–Singapore electricity connection under the ASEAN Power Grid.

As ASEAN’s main bank, which includes a commitment to mobilise $30 billion for the region by 2030, ADB is strongly backing Vietnam’s deep regional economic integration.

Vietnam has consistently recorded the highest use of ADB’s Trade and Supply Chain Finance Programme in the region, reflecting its prominence as a regional manufacturing hub. In 2025, the ADB programme supported about $1.5 billion in transactions through 17 partner banks. In 2026, the scheme has already supported approximately $620 million in transactions, representing about 90 per cent on-year increase.

ADB is also expanding its work with the private sector in Vietnam. In 2025, it committed $146 million to three private sector projects and mobilised another $250 million from commercial lenders and development partners. Its private sector portfolio in Vietnam stood at about $1 billion at the end of 2025.

VIR