Vietnam: EUR 150 million loan for climate change mitigation

31-10-2012 — /europawire.eu/ — The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a EUR 150 million loan to the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam with the purpose of part-financing projects that will contribute to the mitigation of climate change. The Vietnam Climate Change Global Loan was signed in Hanoi today by Ms Magdalena Álvarez Arza, Vice-President of the EIB, and Mr Truong Chi Trung, Vietnam’s Vice-Minister of Finance, in the presence of Mr Truong Tan Sang, the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and Mr Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Council.

Vice-President Álvarez, who is in charge of the EIB’s operations in Asia, stressed that “the EIB, as the EU bank, is strongly committed to climate change action, as one of the EU’s global priorities”. She also emphasised that “this operation is a new milestone in our excellent cooperation with the Vietnamese authorities and I am confident that the investments financed under this framework loan will help promote sustainable and high-quality economic growth in the country”.

The loan will foster environmental sustainability and will make long-term financing available for investments that contribute to climate change mitigation through the avoidance, reduction or sequestration of greenhouse gases emissions, by using of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency enhancements, which are priorities for EIB lending.

The loan will be provided via the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of Vietnam to four state-owned banks for on-lending to small-scale climate change projects. The four banks, among the largest in Vietnam, have the ability to source and manage investment schemes in the energy and industrial sectors. Interested promoters should address their requests to one of the participating banks, which cover different areas of the Vietnamese economy: JSC Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Vietnam JSC Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) and Vietnam Development Bank (VDB).

This is the second loan of its kind in Vietnam, the first being the EUR 100 million Vietnam Climate Change Framework Loan signed in May 2009 for financing investments that contributed to climate change mitigation and support the EU’s presence in the country, which has been implemented successfully by both sides.

This loan is being provided under the 2011-2013 Climate Change Mandate and is the EIB’s eighth operation in Vietnam, where it started operations in 1996. Since then, EIB financing in Vietnam has reached almost EUR 650 million, including this loan. The Government of Vietnam highly appreciates all supports from EIB to the development of the country during the years and is willing continuously to receive its remarkable assistance in the future.

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