Hanoi: Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang received Executive Senior Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Yamada Junichi in Hanoi on March 26. Welcoming the JICA official to Vietnam to attend the launch of the first phase of the Vietnam-Japan joint initiative in the new era, Deputy PM Quang briefed the guest on Vietnam's national budget management mechanisms as well as the country's recent efforts to remove difficulties and obstacles to speed up the progress of projects using Japanese ODA. For his part, Yamada said that recently, Japan's ODA disbursement rate has increased significantly, with the amount of slow disbursement at about 1.8 billion JPY (11.86 million USD), much lower than that in previous years thanks to the drastic direction of the Vietnamese Government. The JICA Executive Senior Vice President affirmed that the agency is ready to discuss with Vietnam about the implementation of 11 infrastructure development projects in localities, including the consideration o f the possibility for these projects to be bid domestically instead of internationally to shorten investment preparation time. He suggested that Vietnam build a separate legal framework for additional loans outside the medium-term budget plan from JICA as well as other donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Lauding JICA's recommendations, Deputy PM Quang proposed that the two sides work together on the suitable interest rates and each specific project. The two sides concurred to coordinate closely to remove difficulties and obstacles facing each project, including those related to tax rates for Japanese contractors implementing ODA projects, thus speeding up the progress of delayed projects, especially the Cho Ray Hospital No.2 and the Vietnam-Japan University. Japan is currently Vietnam's largest ODA provider. Since 1992, Japan has provided Vietnam with over 2,700 billion JPY in ODA loans, along with nearly 100 billion JPY in non-refundable aid and nearly 180 billion JPY in technic al assistance. Japan's ODA accounts for over 30% of bilateral development aid that Vietnam has received. In 2023, Japan's total ODA capital for Vietnam reached more than 100 billion JPY, the highest level since 2017./ Source: Vietnam News Agency