OFID commits US$45m to Viet Nam’s transport infrastructure

OFID Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa (front, left) signs loan agreement with Viet Nam’s Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung.

Vienna, Austria, September 4, 2019. The Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa, has signed a US$45 million loan agreement with Viet Nam’s Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung for the Da Nang City Transport Project. 

OFID’s loan will help complete construction of the city’s crucial ring road, which will improve the connectivity of southeast and western rural regions to the city center. The project will boost access to employment opportunities and social amenities, ultimately supporting socioeconomic development and benefiting over one million people directly. 

OFID’s delegation to Viet Nam – led by the Director-General – met with the country’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vice Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang to discuss OFID-Viet Nam cooperation, which spans more than 40 years. 

OFID Director-General Dr Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said:  “We are proud to see the people of Viet Nam benefiting from OFID’s co-financed projects and we are eager to further grow our partnership with Viet Nam, which is already well established. We would be honored to be thought of by the country’s people as Viet Nam’s development partner.”

Viet Nam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said: “I very much appreciate what OFID has done in Viet Nam. We should continue this fruitful cooperation.”

Visits were also made to project sites of other OFID-funded operations, including the successfully-completed Central Transport Hospital in Hanoi and multi-sectoral projects in Ha Tinh Province.   

OFID’s high-level delegation to Viet Nam also included Assistant Director-General, Public Sector Operations Fuad Albassam and Country Officer Dr Jaafar Al-Mahdi.

To date, OFID has approved 21 public sector loans totaling close to US$284 million to Viet Nam in support of the agriculture, education, energy, health and transport sectors. 

About OFID

OFID works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international donor community to stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty in all disadvantaged regions of the world. It does this by providing financing to build essential infrastructure, strengthen social services and promote productivity, competitiveness and trade. OFID’s work is people-centered, focusing on projects that meet basic needs – such as food, energy, clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education – with the aim of encouraging self-reliance and inspiring hope for the future.