While meeting Vietnamese leaderships in Hanoi, Raza reaffirmed IFAD’s support to the country in the programmefor 2021-2025 national target programme on sustainable poverty reduction and praised Vietnam’s efforts in moving the development agenda forward.
Ms. Reehana R. Raza in a meeting with MARD
“IFAD is proud of its successful collaboration with Vietnam for almost three decades. We wish to deepen, enlarge and expand this cooperation and partnership with Vietnam in a sustainable ways”, added Raza.
The purpose of the visit was to strengthen relationships with Vietnam going forward by meeting with UN development partners and line ministries that IFAD works closely with at both national and local levels: Mr Tran Quoc Phuong, Vice-Minister of Planning and Investment, Mr. Le Quoc Doanh, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) and Mr. Ta Anh Tuan, Vice Minister of Finance (MoF).
The delegation of IFAD met with the MoF
Vice Minister of Finance Ta Anh Tuan said that IFAD's projects in Vietnam have introduced innovative initiatives in rural areas, including market-oriented planning, value chain development, and promotion of innovation. He noted “the projects financed by IFAD have proven effective when Vietnam is assessed as one of successful business cases on poverty reduction, agricultural and rural development”.
On the other hand, Vice Minister of MARD Le Quoc Doanh called on IFAD to mobilize senior experts on rural agricultural development to support the Ministry in institutional development and advise in developing and implementing the agricultural sector development strategy.
Local farmers benefiting from IFAD Commercial Smallholder Support Project
Bac Kan and Cao Bang
In a talk with Mrs Caitlin Wiesen, Acting Resident Coordinator for the United Nations in Vietnam, Raza reiterated IFAD’s efforts to increase joint programmes with other UN agencies in Vietnam involving in mobilisation of resources for competitive funds, such as COVID-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust Fund (COVID-19 MPTF) and SDG funds to support sub-regional initiatives targeting ethnic minorities, young people and women.
Reehana R. Raza is an economist and policy expert with over 20 years of experience formulating and managing innovative economic research while providing technical assistance in human development, governance, and decentralisation. Raza joined IFAD in May 2022 from the Urban Institute in Washington D.C., USA. She previously served as a Senior Economist at The World Bank, Washington D.C., USA and Research Associate at Overseas Development Institute, London, UK.
Ms. Reehana R. Raza
Vietnam and IFAD have written a success story on poverty reduction. Since 1993, IFAD has supported 15 programmes and projects in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for a total of 362 million USD, directly benefiting 738,470 rural households
As Vietnam is one of the nations most affected by climate change and sea level rise, Raza also stated that helping Vietnam to adapt and address climate change in a sustainable and resilient way is a top priority. In line with this, IFAD plans to launch a new project to develop climate-smart agricultural value chain in the Mekong provinces of Ben Tre and Tra Vinh, to be carried out over the next few years./.