Development cooperation

Early relations

Belgium and Vietnam officially established diplomatic relations on March 22, 1973. Vietnam and the Vietnamese people were still suffering of a war that had ravaged the country for several decades. On October 11, 1977, Belgium and Vietnam signed a Framework Agreement on Economic, Industrial and Technical Cooperation..

During the first years after the reunification of Vietnam, the Belgian Government approved a first package of technical assistance projects for Vietnam. This was the time when Belgium supplied locomotives to help revamp Vietnam’s railways after years of destruction as a result of the war.

The locomotives were wonderful Public Relations for Belgium: they were not only very reliable and robust engines; they were also superb “ambassadors” of Belgium’s support for a reunified Vietnam.

The development cooperation got off to a slow start. The main objective was to contribute to the rehabilitation and development of Vietnam’s infrastructure, which had been damaged during the war and was suffering from underinvestment. Two state loans were granted, resulting in the delivery of diesel locomotives (1978) and textile machines (1979).

From the beginning ties were established between Vietnamese and Belgian scientific institutions such as the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Ever since, thousands of Vietnamese students have benefited from scholarships in the framework of bilateral cooperation, allowing them to gain Master degrees and doctorates in Belgium.

Period 1990-2000

At the beginning of the 90s the bilateral cooperation intensified rapidly, characterised by a gradual shift from an infrastructure-focused programme to a programme with a more social and poverty- oriented inspiration. The “philosophy” of this cooperation was embedded in the context of “Doi Moi”, the Vietnamese reform policy towards an open market economy that started in 1987.

Belgium, together with several other development partners, wanted to concentrate its cooperation on the social deficits that these economic reforms might entail. Consequently, priority was given to the soft sectors of education, training, public health, water and sanitation. The major targets were socially deprived groups such as the urban poor, women and ethnic minorities.

Programme negotiations at ministerial level, known as “Joint Commissions”, were held between the two countries in 1992/93, 1996 and 2000, at which Belgium committed EUR 20 million, EUR 17 million and EUR 57 million respectively.

These amounts included debt relief totalling EUR 46.35 million. Between 1994 and 2000, Belgium allocated four instalments of bilateral debt relief to Vietnam. This component of the cooperation programme was much appreciated as it helped to pave the way for renewed Vietnamese involvement with financial institutions such as the IMF. It also enabled the creation of “counter-value funds”, whereby the Vietnamese government deposited the counter value of approximately 25% of the relieved debt in a special account in Vietnamese Dong. These funds were then used to cover the local costs of the bilateral cooperation programme.

The Belgian Government also contributed indirectly through multilateral organisations. Several initiatives by UN organisations (FAO, ILO, Habitat, UNIDO) and the Asian Development Bank were financed during this decade. The collaboration between Belgian and Vietnamese universities developed into one of the most important Belgian-backed university programmes in the world. Belgium also financed expertise through organizations such as VVOB and APEFE and co-financed the activities of over 15 non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Period 2001-2010: alignment with country strategy and sector approach

The late nineties and early years of the new millennium have seen a number of crucial paradigm shifts in the world of international cooperation. The most important of these are the widespread adoption of national poverty reduction strategies, the Millennium Development Goals, the new partnership enshrined in the Monterrey consensus between developed and developing countries and increased efforts to enhance aid effectiveness.

At the strategic level, the Indicative Cooperation Programs (ICP) adopted by the 2003 and 2007 Joint Commissions, explicitly and fully aligned with the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) and the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) of Vietnam and the Paris Declaration, aimed at helping Vietnam to progress towards meeting the “Vietnam Development Goals”.

In addition, the excessive fragmentation over too many themes, sectors and provinces was tackled, and the focus areas of the cooperation programme were gradually reduced to:

• water, sanitation and waste management;
• governance and institutional capacity building;
• education and training.

Period 2011-2020: ownership and partnership

Vietnam has been growing very fast over the last years. Strong and efficiently functioning government structures are important in order to ensure a sustained socio-economic growth.

In 2010, Vietnam started the elaboration of the new plan of socio-economic development, 2011-2015 focusing on developing a sustainable economy with high growth rate, stimulating the process of industrialization and modernization, increasing production and high technology, improving and reinforcing the quality of education and training of human resources, reinforcing environment protection and preserving natural resources and fighting against climate changes.

Cooperation  evolved from the old aid paradigm based on a “donor – recipient” relationship towards a strengthened partnership relation which will benefit all carried, much more than in the past, by a large number of actors. Furthermore, synergy wassought between these different areas..

The guiding principles for the choice of future areas of cooperation were, amongst others:

• More than in the past, the cooperation program should be demand driven and fit within policies actively supported by the Vietnamese government;
• Long term perspective and continuity are vital. The new cooperation program looked in the first place to areas where relationships have been successfully set up in the past, so as to make use of the experience and mutual confidence acquired over the years. Any new interventions should from the outset incorporate the long term perspective.
• Prioritize, be selective, and be focused. Avoid fragmentation over too many areas.

Based on the experience obtained from the previous ICPs, on the rapid evolution of the socio-economic situation in Vietnam, on the fact that Vietnam became a middle-income country (MIC) in 2010 and in conformity with the new SEDP 2011-2015 Belgium developed a new Indicative Cooperation Program with Vietnam.

Financed with a grant of € 60 million, the bilateral programme of the next four years 2011-2015 aiming at assisting Vietnam’s socio-economic development, more specifically in the areas of “water & sanitation in the context of urbanisation and climate change” and “governance” was signed between Vietnam and Belgium on 21st June, 2011 in Hanoi.

While poverty reduction remained the core goal of the cooperation programme greater attention was also  given to new and emerging challenges for Vietnam as the climate change, lack of sufficient quality human resources, the development of a green-based economy, and gender disparities. About € 30 million was allocated to – among others – a water and sanitation programme in the framework of climate change adaptation and mitigation in three provinces (Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Ha Tinh). The capacities of local governments were strengthened to ensure that threats of rapid urbanisation and climate changewere properly mitigated.

In the sector of Governance both governments  continued their joint efforts in the field of the planning reform.

Via delegated cooperation to the United Nations in Vietnam, Belgium joined the Government of Vietnam in its efforts to strengthen governance.

Linked to this, was the intention to support innovation and the private sector. To successfully implement innovation policies, the Vietnamese government needed to issue new policies to encourage development and promoting more efficient operation of business incubators for short-term assistance to small and middle-sized enterprises (SME) in their start-up phase.

About € 12 million was allocated to cover interventions in the governance sector.

To address the issue of lacking qualified human resources in Vietnam Belgium tripled the funding of its scholarship programme to € 12 million in the form of a Capacity Building Facility. with the middle-income status, Vietnam’s need for new technical know-how and access to international best practices was different. The Belgian bilateral scholarship programme therefore  adopt both institutional and individual approaches, with different modalities and instruments to respond to both long-term and immediate needs for quality human resources.

Besides the governmental cooperation, the Belgian Government also financially contributes to the implementation of programmes of other Belgian actors, called the indirect cooperation. This cooperation consists mainly of the following types of actors:

Non-governmental organisations (NGO) that are present in Vietnam: VECO/ Rikolto, Oxfam-BE, Handicap International Belgium, Entr’aide et Fraternité, Plan International. Their interventions are in the following fields: labour conditions, rural development and public health.

The cooperation between universities and research institutes is coordinated by, the Flemish Interuniversity Council, University Cooperation for Development (VLIR-UOS), the Conseil interuniversitaire de la Communauté française de Belgique, Commission Universitaire pour le Développement (CIUF-CUD/ ARES) and the Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM).

Originally established to put French-speaking teachers’ ‘savoir-faire’ at the disposal of disadvantaged countries Association pour la Promotion de l'Education et de la Formation à l'Etranger (APEFE) invested its capacities in partnerships and networks to ensure quality in scientific and technical assistance for the poorest countries. From 2007 onward, it has chosen for a “programme” approach that more and more relies on local expertise, concentrated in education at secondary level, as well as higher and professional levels.

The Flemish Office for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance (VVOB) is active in two sectors: education (improvement of quality of lower secondary education) in 5 provinces of North and Central Vietnam and agriculture (strengthening methodological extension skills) in 5 provinces of the Mekong Delta. VVOB works with/through various partners like MPI, MOET, DARD, Women’s Union, Farmers’ Association, PPCs, and teacher training institutes. The education programme aimed at three results: improve educational competencies to guide the active teaching and learning (ATL) change process, improve the pre- and in-service teacher training, and strengthen the relation between school, mass organisations and the broader community. The Agricultural Extension Programme (2008-2012) promoted participatory extension methods to contribute to a better agricultural extension system, based on farmer’s needs.

The Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) co-ordinate and fund the activities concerned. The choices are guided by the principles of mutual interest and complementary know-how, with a prospect of practical applications and economic and social benefits in the long run.

Finally, we should mention the Research foundation Flanders (FWO): partner: the National Centre for Technology of Viet Nam (NAFOSTED) for joint basic research (Own initiative and funding).

The bilateral development cooperation program between Belgium and Vietnam officially ended at the end of June 2019, but Belgium continues to support Vietnam through academic cooperation, NGOs, the private sector – with the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO). Vietnam remains the recipient of the Belgian concessional ODA financing managed by Finexpo.