Structured settlement broker

PANO – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Vietnamese Government on January 17 ^th signed four loan agreements valued at $176 million to help the Vietnamese Government on capacity building to strengthen public-private partnerships (PPP) and infrastructure investments, enhance competitiveness of towns along Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) economic corridors, improve food safety, as well as develop national capacity to mitigate HIV risks.

With the first loan agreement, ADB provides US$20 million from its Asian Development Fund (ADF) to fund the Public Private Partnership Support Project. The project will use the fund to establish a Project Development Facility (PDF) to help bring efficient PPP projects to the market. Ministries and government agencies will use the PDF to fund PPP project preparation activities, including pre-feasibility studies, full feasibility studies and the engaging of transaction advisors to structure deals to bring to the private sector for bidding.

The signing ceremony. Photo: baohaiquan.vn

The second loan of US$130 million will help transform the GMS corridor towns of Dong Ha, Lao Bao and Moc Bai into economic hubs by improving urban-environmental infrastructure and strengthening institutional capacities of provincial and local authorities. The GMS Corridor Towns Development Project will finance 10 sub-projects in the three towns.

To help Vietnam improve food safety, ADB provides $11 million in ADF loans to finance the Trade Facilitation, “Improved Sanitary and Phytosanitary Handling in GMS Trade Project”. The project will support the country to establish, strengthen and implement surveillance and inspection programs for food safety, including safe food handling in the tourism industry, and regional cooperation and harmonization of sanitary and phytosantary management in food trade in the GMS.

The final loan of US$ 15 million from ADF is to finance GMS Capacity Building for HIV/AIDS Prevention Project to address current gaps in effectively reaching high-risk and vulnerable populations in border areas along shared economic corridors with other GMS countries. The project helps the Government develop its national and regional capacity to mitigate HIV risks and vulnerability, primarily in 15 border provinces in Vietnam.

Addressing the ceremony, Tomoyuki Kimura, the ADB Country Director for Vietnam said that the provision of adequate physical infrastructure is a necessary condition to ensure the country’s economic growth and people’s access to services and opportunities. The challenge then is how to mobilize the financing needed to develop infrastructure, and clearly this will largely rely on encouraging more private sector investment, such as well placed public financing coupled with support to overcome policy, institutional, information and risk barriers to investment.”

Chung Anh

Hanoi (VNA) – Committees of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) at all levels are promptly making preparations for the second consultative conferences on the nomination of candidates for the upcoming general elections, following the first ones in February.

The elections of deputies to the 15th-tenure National Assembly and all-level People’s Councils for the 2021-2026 tenure are scheduled to take place on May 23, which falls on Sunday.

This is an important political event aimed at selecting outstanding and deserving deputies who represent the people’s will, aspirations, and right to mastery in the NA and all-level People’s Councils in the new tenure, which is expected to help build, consolidate, and perfect a law-governed socialist State of the people, by the people, and for the people under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

First consultative conferences: Democratic, in line with law

The first consultative conferences were held in all 63 cities and provinces nationwide from February 3 to 17.

They showed true democracy, as seen through the contribution of opinions to the NA Standing Committee and People’s Council Standing Boards’ draft plans on candidacy structure, along with the criteria for deputies at the NA and People’s Councils.

The VFF Central Committee said the first conferences agreed that 1,076 candidates will be nominated for seats in the NA, equivalent to 2.15 times the number of deputies planned to be elected. The difference between the numbers of candidates and deputies elected was 2.04 times in the 14th NA election and 2.2 times in the election to the 13th legislature.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates for membership of all-level People’s Councils in the new tenure will be 7,656; 2.06 times higher than the 3,715 deputies to be chosen. This difference was 1.66 times and 2.02 times in the 2016 and 2011 elections, respectively.

Among the 7,656 candidates to be nominated for all-level People’s Councils, there are 1,690 women (22.1 percent of the total), 748 ethnic minority people (9.8 percent), and 555 who are not Party members (7.2 percent).

Increasing examination, monitoring to promote quality of second consultative conferences

On the basis of the first consultative conferences’ outcomes, preparations for the second conferences are being promptly made by VFF committees at all levels, so as to ensure that upcoming events will take place in a democratic and quality manner and be in line with the law.

Hau A Lenh, member of the Party Central Committee, Vice President and Secretary-General of the VFF Central Committee, and deputy head of the VFF Central Committee’s steering board for election affairs, said that to gear up for the second conferences, the VFF has provided instructions to central agencies and localities on the nomination of their candidates, the organisation of voters’ meetings to look into candidates’ dossiers, and the selection of eligible and outstanding persons for candidacy.

To choose moral and talented persons, the NA Standing Committee issued a new regulation stating that a deputy of the NA or People’s Councils must receive support from more than 50 percent of voters in their residential area.

Vice President of the VFF Central Committee Ngo Sach Thuc said voter confidence is an important measurement of the eligibility of NA and People’s Council deputies.

Given this, the recent joint resolution of the NA Standing Committee, the VFF Central Committee’s Presidium, and the Government paid great attention to candidates’ creditability. Those with a low level of creditability in their residential areas or workplace will not be included on the lists of candidates, he said.

The reception and consideration of candidates’ dossiers are scheduled to conclude at 5pm on March 14, and the second consultative conferences will take place five days later, on March 19.

The VFF is now stepping up monitoring and examination to gain a good grasp of the implementation of election affairs in localities, thereby identifying any difficulties or violations of election regulations or electoral rules and taking timely measures to ensure that elections are truly democratic and accord with the law./.

VNA