Vietnam’s Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance of the Republic of Korea (RoK) signed an agreement on cooperation for 2013 during their talks in Hanoi on January 11. The agreement is part of activities to implement the memorandum of understanding on their financial cooperation in the 2012-2015 period.At the talks, Vietnamese Finance Minister Vuong Dinh Hue spoke highly of the RoK ministry’s assistance to Vietnam, particularly in implementing official development assistance (ODA) projects in Vietnam.He expressed his hope that this year, the RoK will continue sharing experience in restructuring State-owned businesses, managing State reserves, supervising the financial market and assessing the implementation of the State’s investment and export credit policies.Since 2008, the RoK has been named in the top three ODA providers for Vietnam, focusing on infrastructure, urban development, vocational training, health and water supply.In 2011, the RoK provided 215 million USD in ODA for six projects in Vietnam, including the Da Nang and Lao Cai hospitals, a solar power plant in central Quang Binh province, a water supply and drainage program in Long Xuyen city (An Giang province), a climate change prevention program and a project to build the Government’s data and information center.VOV