Japan will aid Vietnam

Japan will aid Vietnam

TOKYO (AFP): Tokyo will give financial assistance worth 100 billion yen (US$847 million) to Vietnam and consider giving part of the US$30 billion Asian rescue fund to the country, a report said on Monday.

The aid will be unveiled at a World Bank-sponsored conference of donors to Vietnam scheduled for December 7-8 in Paris, Jiji Press said.

The major portion of the planned assistance will be Japan's yen loans, the report said.

Japan's aid to Vietnam comes after Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi pledged a maximum possible share of Tokyo's international economic help to the country when he met Vietnamese Defense Minister Pham Van Tra here on Dec. 1.

Tra also called for a slice of Japan's $30 billion aid package to five Asian neighbors, which are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Phillipines, South Korea and Thailand.

Obuchi is expected to announce Vietnam's share of the Asian package at a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hanoi on Dec. 15, Jiji said.