Japan agrees 67.51 billion yen loans for Vietnam
HANOI - Japan said on Thursday it would lend Vietnam up to 67.51 billion yen ($509.32 million) for infrastructure projects this year, but warned Hanoi to use the funds carefully.
A Japanese embassy statement said the loans were for five projects involving the upgrading of Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat international airport and power plant, bridge, tunnel and road construction.
Japan's ambassador to Vietnam, Ryuichiro Yamazaki, appealed for better use of ODA funds by Vietnam.
"I would like to ask Vietnam to understand that Japanese public opinion on ODA is getting very harsh and to make use of Japan's ODA in a more efficient manner without viewing it as a natural gift," he said in the statement.
The statement said an exchange of notes on loans for construction of a bridge last year brought the total amount of yen loans extended to Vietnam in fiscal 2001 to 74.41 billion yen
($561.37 million).
This year's loans bring total Japanese lending to Vietnam to 736.31 billion yen ($5.55 billion) at current exchange rates.
Yen loans are repayable over 30-40 years with a 10-year grace period.
The embassy statement said the latest tranche included 15.59 billion yen ($117.62 million) for a thermal power plant at O Mon in the Mekong Delta and 22.77 billion yen ($171.78 million) for the airport terminal project.
Japan is by far the biggest aid donor to Vietnam, which is the currently the second largest recipient of ODA in the world after China.
Reuters - March 28, 2002
Vietnam Airlines to begin direct flights to Tokyo
HANOI - Vietnam Airlines will begin direct flights between Tokyo and Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, an airline official said Friday.
The national carrier will start flying four times a week between southern Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo's Narita airport using Boeing 767-300 airplanes late April, the official said.
She said Vietnam Airlines also plans to open a new direct route between Hanoi and Tokyo late June.
Japan Airlines has flown nonstop between Ho Chi Minh City and Tokyo for more than a year in a code-sharing arrangement with Vietnam Airlines, but it will be the first time for the Vietnamese carrier to fly its own planes on the route, the official said.
The airline now has 22 international and 15 domestic destinations.
Arrivals of Japanese tourists in Vietnam have risen sharply in the past year.
The Associated Press - March 29, 2002
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