At a meeting with Vietnam Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue in Tokyo on November 2, Arai said apart from the assistance in building infrastructure, Japan is ready to cooperate in improving policies and mechanisms and in human resource training, to serve Vietnam’s economic development.

He emphasised the importance of increasing the competitiveness of Vietnam’s economy in the medium and long term. However, he said, the implementation of policies to stabilise the macro-economy is an extremely important task for Vietnam when the global economy is facing many difficulties.

JICA will discuss with the Japanese Government on the possibility of providing financial assistance to the Vietnamese Government when it needs for implementation of such policies, he said.

To prepare for the signing of loans agreements for seven other projects in Vietnam in the second half of the 2011 fiscal year, a Japanese governmental delegation will visit Vietnam in mid-November.

Minister Hue said Vietnam has carried out drastic measures to stabilise its macro-economy in the context of the global public debt crisis.

He added that the Vietnamese Government prioritises restructuring the economy, public investment and the system of State-owned enterprises and human resource development.

Earlier, Minister Hue and Vice President Arai signed loan agreements for six important projects worth US$1.2 billion. They included the Lach Huyen deepwater port development project, the North-South Highway construction project at the Ben Luc-Long Thanh section, the Nghi Son thermal power plant, a programme to cope with climate change, and a satellite observation project to monitor disasters and climate change.

Also on November 2, Minister Hue received leaders of Mizuho, a major Japanese financial and banking group.