Vietnam, AFD strengthen development cooperation for new phase

Vietnam, AFD strengthen development cooperation for new phase

On September 10, as part of Party General Secretary and State President To Lam's official visit to France, a delegation from Vietnam's Ministry of Finance, led by Minister Ngo Van Tuan, visited and held a working session with the French Development Agency at its headquarters in Paris. AFD deputy director general Bertrand Walckenaer chaired the meeting.

Minister of Finance Ngo Van Tuan. Photo: Nguyen Yen

Minister Tuan expressed his appreciation to Bertrand Walckenaer and AFD officials for their warm welcome to the Vietnamese delegation. Looking back on the history of cooperation, he stressed that AFD has always held a special position in Vietnam-France bilateral relations.

Reviewing 2021-2025, Tuan acknowledged that Vietnam faced some challenges in mobilising, managing and using official development assistance (ODA) and foreign concessional loans due to both objective and subjective factors. These challenges affected the preparation, appraisal, approval and negotiation of foreign loan agreements. Despite these difficulties, AFD has remained a reliable and stable partner of Vietnam.

During the period, the Vietnamese government signed seven loan agreements with AFD out of a total of 42 foreign loan treaties and agreements. This result reflects the strong alignment between France's development support priorities and Vietnam's actual development needs.

Regarding Vietnam's economic development, Minister Tuan said that amid a challenging global environment, Vietnam is seeking a stronger breakthrough to achieve its long-term development objectives, including its ambition to sustain double-digit economic growth in the coming years.

To realise this goal, Vietnam will require substantial resources for key infrastructure and nationally important projects. The government remains committed to comprehensive institutional reforms, stronger public-sector management and the development of new growth drivers, including digital transformation, green transition and innovation.

Against this backdrop, Vietnam asked AFD to continue its support by providing highly concessional loans combined with grants to enhance the overall concession for financing. Priority should be given to infrastructure projects with broad spillover effects, climate change adaptation and the green transition.

“Vietnam's Ministry of Finance is committed to remaining a reliable partner, acting transparently and maintaining financial discipline as we work with AFD to deliver successful projects,” the minister said.

AFD deputy director general Bertrand Walckenaer. Photo: Nguyen Yen

AFD deputy director general Bertrand Walckenaer praised Vietnam's institutional reform efforts and macroeconomic financial management, affirming that AFD considers Vietnam a key strategic partner in France's development cooperation policy in Asia.

AFD pledged to work closely with Vietnamese technical agencies to review and optimise internal procedures, ensuring greater flexibility and creating better conditions possible for the approval and disbursement of financing.

In particular, AFD will continue to prioritise resources to support Vietnam's sustainable development objectives, especially in green finance, climate change response and a just energy transition.

Regarding the Agreement on Strengthening Capacity for Green Finance Policy Development signed on May 26, 2025, Minister Tuan thanked AFD for providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Finance in four key areas: green tax policy, green bond issuance, development of the carbon market, and integration of carbon pricing into Vietnam's long-term Net Zero pathway.

The two sides agreed to maintain close coordination, accelerate implementation of the agreement and initiate procedures to extend the MoU when necessary to better meet practical requirements.

Photo: Nguyen Yen

At the meeting, Vietnam's Ministry of Finance and AFD also signed an MoU on cooperation. The seven-article document sets out the objectives, areas and methods of cooperation, implementation principles, dispute settlement mechanisms and the validity of the document.

The MoU provides a formal foundation for strengthening and elevating development cooperation between Vietnam's Ministry of Finance and AFD in the new phase.

VIR