IFAD-Viet Nam 25th Anniversary of Partnership, Innovation and Rural Transformation

Excellency Mr. Huynh Quang Hai, Vice Minister, Ministry of Finance

Mr. Donal Brown, Associate Vice President of IFAD,

Mr. Thomas Rath, Country Director of IFAD Viet Nam

Government and Provincial Representatives

UN Country Team Colleagues

Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to thank IFAD for the invitation to this very important event commemorating and celebrating IFAD Viet Nam’s 25th Anniversary. Congratulations. I am happy to speak on behalf of the UN family in Viet Nam on this occasion, sharing with you our very special partnership journey in Viet Nam’s development over more than 40 years – a journey in which IFAD has been a crucial participant.

As you know, our main mission in Viet Nam is to support the country in the implementation of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. To achieve this mission, we have prioritized more and more joint inter-agency collaboration and partnerships with the government, civil society, the private sector and international development partners in Viet Nam. The UN convenes platforms for policy debates, policy formulation and advocacy, as well as shares best global development practices and technical expertise with both national partners and local communities.

Our joint UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) work and support to Viet Nam, guided by the One Strategic Plan for 2017 – 2021 jointly agreed with the Government of Viet Nam, focuses on 4 main areas:

1. Investing in people to ensure more inclusive and equitable quality social services and social protection for the people, especially the most vulnerable,
2. Ensuring climate resilience and environmental sustainability, effectively responding to climate change and natural disasters, and more sustainably managing natural resources,
3. Promoting justice, peace and inclusive governance through strengthening the rule of law and better protection of human rights, as well as improving the quality and responsiveness of all levels of governance.
4. Fostering prosperity and partnerships to build an inclusive and sustainable economic growth model, including an inclusive labor market to ensure decent work for all Vietnamese.

IFAD has actively contributed to our UN Country Team’s Result Areas on Climate Change and Environment as well as on Inclusive Growth and Social Protection. In particular, IFAD contributes to the promotion of sustainable rural development through increased rural household incomes, especially by economically empowering many women and ethnic minority people in provinces across northern, central and southern Viet Nam.

IFAD’s microloans to women and vulnerable groups in rural areas have been innovative and proven to be very effective in empowering people to change their own lives.

IFAD-supported programs today impressively cover 392 communes in 67 districts in 11 provinces – reaching 1.7 million people. The programs assisted 367,000 poor and near-poor households to escape poverty, amongst whom 45% are women and 49% are from ethnic minority groups.

Working on the strategic level of SDG implementation in Viet Nam, IFAD has aligned its objectives of No Poverty, No Hunger and Climate Action with Gender Equality with the country’s national strategy frameworks targeting new rural development and market-led pro-poor agricultural growth to sustainably improve the incomes of smallholders and the rural poor through market participation and reduced climate vulnerability.

Natural disasters and climate change have severe impacts on Viet Nam’s rural and agricultural development. The UN is happy that IFAD is strategically assisting Viet Nam to:

1. Leverage greater investment from the private sector into inclusive value chain development,
2. Enhance and expand financial inclusion for climate resilient livelihoods in mountainous and remote areas, and
3. Foster the environmental sustainability & climate resilience of smallholder economic activities, essential to moving the country’s rural agriculture toward low-carbon, climate resilient, and sustainable agricultural practices while generating rural household incomes and employment.

Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Viet Nam has undergone impressive economic development over the last three decades, but not all people have benefited, and many are still left behind, mostly in rural areas. Investing in people to ensure social inclusion and breaking the cycle of poverty will be key to achieving the quality, inclusiveness and sustainability of economic growth that is necessary for the achievement of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in Viet Nam.

Significant development finance resources for the implementation of sustainable development in agriculture and rural areas also needs to be mobilized if Agenda 2030 is to be achieved. IFAD’s micro-finance lending which reaches millions of small rural householders, especially women and ethnic minorities, greatly contributes to the UN SDG agenda and our One Strategic Plan, as well as to Viet Nam’s national Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) and Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS), and more broadly to the continued cooperation and partnership between the UN and the Government and people of Viet Nam.

As UN Resident Coordinator, I look forward to both supporting and witnessing the continued growth and contribution of IFAD’s important work in Viet Nam over the next few years!

Thank you! Xin cảm ơn!