In this afternoon (14th August), at the head office of the Ministry of Transport, the Minister Dinh La Thang had a meeting with Mr. Eric Sidgwick - Director of Asian Development Bank in Vietnam on the occasion of his new term of service.

The Minister Dinh La Thang met ADB Director in Vietnam

At the meeting, Mr. Eric Sidgwick - Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam thanked the Minister for taking the time to work with the Missions; He also affirmed that in his tenure he will contribute to strengthen the cooperation relations between Vietnam and ADB.

Mr. Eric Sidgwick said that 2016 will be a very exciting year in Vietnam with many important events and the start of building 5 year economic - social plan. Also during this period of time ADB will review and modify assistance programs to better meet the needs of the countries who are accessing support from the ADB.

Also at this meeting, ADB Director in Vietnam also wished the Good Ministry to share the list of projects proposed by the Ministry of Transport.

Minister Dinh La Thang congratulates Mr. Eric Sidgwick for his new missions of ADB in Vietnam

Congratulating Mr. Eric Sidgwick for his new missions of ADB in Vietnam, Minister Dinh La Thang hoped that with his experience he will continue to help and support the Transport sector in particular and Vietnam in general.

"The Ministry of Transport commits to closely support ADB Director as well as his colleagues in the ADB Office in Vietnam to fulfill their duties; and we express our gratitude and congratulate Mr. Tomoyuki Kimura for excellently completing his the task of ADB Director in Vietnam in the past years and we hope that in his new position he will continue to support the cooperation relationship between Vietnam and ADB "- the Minister stressed.

Exchanging some contents on the cooperation between ADB and countries in the region and Vietnam, the Minister said: In the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), ADB has a lot of technical assistance and traffic infrastructure development projects, of which the most recently are technical assistance project in preparation for Maintenance of GMS transport corridors project, consulting technical assistance and regional policy project "Support to implement the Plan on promoting transport and commerce in the GMS", Technical assistance and investment in upgrading National Highway 14D Nam Giang - Dak Ta York gate segment - Quang Nam Province Project and Northern of East-West corridor project.

"Especially 22 projects financed by ADB since 1993 with the total loans of USD 4,046 billion have contributed to improve Vietnam Transportation. In which 8 projects are under implementation with total loans of USD 2,323 billion. With the support from Mr. Tomoyuki Kimura and his colleagues these project are being implemented very well "- the minister said.

On this basis, the Ministry of Transport proposed 02 technical assistance projects and 09 ADB loan projects for the period from 2016 to 2020 with a total capital of about USD 2,243 billion from ADF and OCR.

On this occasion, the Minister Dinh La Thang sent invitations to the ADB Director and Mr. Tomoyuki Kimura to attend the 70th year anniversary of the founding of Transport Sector and then will be a tripartite meeting of the

Ministers of Transport of Vietnam - Laos - Thailand and Vietnam - Cambodia '- Thailand on regional transport connections.

The Minister requested ADB for supporting research to open a fixed route connecting Vietnam - Laos - Thailand and connecting Vietnam - Cambodia - Thailand. This is also the main contents of the tripartite meeting between the ministers of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand on the sidelines of the 70th year celebrations of the founding of Transport Sector.

At the same time, the Minister proposed ADB and the World Bank to promote investment in the road connecting Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar from Son La - Dien Bien - Tay Trang - Oudomxay - Lungnamtha - Myanmar of Asia AH13 road.

Also in this afternoon (14th August), the Minister of Transport, Chairman of the Vietnam – Japan Friendship Association Dinh La Thang has chaired a meeting with the Standing Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association and related units about the cooperation with Japan to prepare for the visit to Japan of leaders of the Party.

At this meeting, the Minister Dinh La Thang has instructed relevant units to acquire, re-complete the report on cooperation with Japan to prepare for the visit of leaders of the Party; while requested the specialized departments to thoroughly review the contents of cooperation in aviation, railway, marine ... between Vietnam and Japan to conform with relevant agencies.