France lends Vietnam over $27 mln for climate change project

The Vietnamese Ministry of Finance ( MOF) and French Development Agency (AFD) signed here on Thursday an agreement, under which AFD will grant a credit loan of 20 million euros (27.17 million U.S. dollars) to Vietnam with preferential interest rate in response to climate change, reported Vietnam News Agency. Accordingly, the loan will be provided in early 2012, with the first interest rate payment made in April 2019, and by Oct. 31, 2031, the credit will be expired. Addressing the signing ceremony, AFD Director Jean Marc Gravellini said, Vietnam is one among the most hit by climate change. A recent survey revealed that when the sea water rises to one meter, Vietnam's nearly 5 percent of acreage, 11 percent of population and 7 percent of farming land will be affected. AFD focuses its efforts in supervising the committed contents on recycle energy and power saving. Besides financial support, it provided Vietnam with four technical support projects relating to these contents, said the AFD Director. In December 2008, Vietnam approved a national program in response to climate change, based on which exchanges and forums among international donors, non-government organizations and Vietnamese government were set up with focus on reduction of impacts by climate change.