The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will help create an effective and efficient regional cooperation coordination mechanism in Vietnam through a technical assistance (TA) grant of 430,000 U.S. dollars, an ADB report said on Friday.

The TA supports Government's new Socioeconomic Development Plan for Vietnam, 2006-2010, and promotes ADB's new Country and Strategy and Program for 2007-2010, which pursues regional cooperation and integration as an important pillar in their strategic thrusts, said the report.

Given its strategic location, Vietnam stands to gain from harnessing opportunities available through regional cooperation, such as increased trade and investment through better infrastructure links and expanded markets.

The country's participation in regional cooperation activities has expanded over the years. However, these activities are exerting immense pressure on the current limited capacity of the country.

The Regional Cooperation National Secretariat (RCNS), the national focal point for coordinating all non-political regional cooperation activities in the country, has limited institutional and human resources. As a result, the full scale of benefits from regional cooperation is not realized.

The TA will thus work on strengthening RCNS by analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Vietnam's regional cooperation arrangements, drafting a regional cooperation road map, establishing information resources centers on regional cooperation, and carrying out training programs for staff, according to the report.

It will also support a more efficient public investment planning and resource allocation process by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of current practices, best practices to follow from other countries, and changes needed, said the report.

Source: Xinhua