Japan says to continue ODA for Vietnam despite recent scandal

Hiroshi Watanabe, governor of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) said during a visit to Vietnam on Tuesday that Japan will continue to maintain official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam despite a recent scandal relating to Japan's ODA in the country.

At a meeting with Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang in capital Hanoi on Tuesday, Watanabe spoke highly of Vietnam's cooperation in probing Japan's ODA bribery scandal in Vietnam's railway sector.

Watanabe said Japan are keen on investing in big projects in Vietnam, adding that Japan is expected to sign a credit agreement with Vietnam in building a thermal power plant in southern Binh Thuan province, as well as to discuss cooperation in construction of other thermal power plants in the country.

Vietnamese president, for his part, said the two countries have reached various cooperation agreements in fields of agriculture, tourism, infrastructure construction, investment and support industry.

Vietnam will create favorable condition for Japanese businesses to invest in the country, said the Vietnamese host, expressing his hope that Vietnam will welcome more Japanese investors to the country.

Earlier, the allegation that the Japan Transport Corporation ( JTC) gave bribe to several Vietnamese civil servants to gain order of a project was revealed in March 2014 as JTC chairman admitted that he spent money trading off for winning bid of an ODA project on Vietnam's railway industry.

Japan is the biggest ODA donor to Vietnam with some 20 billion U.S. dollars provided since 1992.