State Bank of Viet Nam’s Governor Nguyen Van Giau represented the Government, and ADB Country Director for Viet Nam Ayumi Konishi represented the ADB at the signing ceremony.

The Health Care in the South Central Coast Region Project will help improve the health system and the health status of the population, in particular the poor, women and children, and ethnic groups in Da Nang City, and the provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Phu Yen, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, and Binh Thuan.

The project will help upgrade 20 hospitals and five district preventive medicine centers equipped with new facilities for water, sanitation, and medical waste management systems. Support will be given to build a training school for nurses and paramedics, village health workers, and for the improvements in basic health care for 423 remote communes.

The other Project signed today will provide $ one million technical assistancegrant from ADB's Japan Special Fund. Thegrant will helpundertake a feasibility study that will lay a ground for an ADB loan to build two model research universities with a focus on science and technology in the cities of Ha Noi and Da Nang.

The project will also help design a policy and regulatory framework for such future research universities, in line with the Government’s aim of making higher education more innovative, internationally competitive, and relevant to labor market needs.

Under the current Socio-Economic Development Plan, the Government is committed to promoting knowledge-led development and fostering a skilled population with strong knowledge and a technological basis that will position the country well for expansion and deeper integration with the global economy.

Ngoc Hung