The Finance Ministry and the European Investment Bank (EIB) on October 31 signed an agreement for a 150 million EUR loan to help Vietnam in mitigating impacts of climate change.

EIB’s Vice-President Magdalena Álvarez Arza, who is in charge of the bank’s operations in Asia, stressed that as the EU bank, the EIB is strongly committed to dealing with climate change, which is considered one of the EU’s global priorities.

She said she believed that the investments financed under this framework loan will help promote sustainable and high-quality economic growth in Vietnam.

The loan will make long-term financing available for investments that contribute to climate change mitigation through the avoidance, reduction or sequestration of greenhouse gases emission, by using renewable energy sources and energy efficiency enhancements.

The loan will be provided via the Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of Vietnam to four State-owned banks for on-lending to small-scale climate change projects.

The four banks are the Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Vietnam JSC Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank), Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) and Vietnam Development Bank (VDB).

This is the second loan of its kind in Vietnam, the first being the 100 million EUR Vietnam Climate Change Framework Loan signed in May 2009.

According to the World Health Organisation, 77,000 deaths from climate change are reported annually in Asia-Pacific, including Vietnam .

To cope with the impacts of climate change and protect the community’s health, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has launched an action plan until 2015.

Under the plan, the MoH has conducted research on the relations between climate change and people’s health, compiled and adjusted strategies and policies to mitigate climate change’s impacts.

It has also invested in infrastructure to ensure environmental hygiene, and put forth measures to prevent water-borne diseases and other infectious diseases.