Vietnam is among the first eight countries eligible for assistance from a
new trust fund sponsored by Japan and the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
to support the adoption of advanced low-carbon technologies in
developing countries.
The ADB on June 25 announced the
establishment of the trust fund which receives a grant of 1.8 billion
JPY (about 17.65 million USD) from the Government of Japan .
In a press release, the ADB said Japan’s Minister of the Environment
Nobuteru Ishihara and ADB President Takehiko Nakao have s ign ed
a Letter of Intent for Cooperation on Environmental Issues, which
will include cooperation for effective implementation of the Japan
Fund for the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JFJCM) .
The ADB
quoted ADB President Takehiko Nakao as saying at the signing ceremony on
June 25 that t he establishment of the JFJCM is a timely step to help
meet the demands of the Asia and Pacific region for sustainable
low-carbon infrastructure.
The fund will provide grant
finance to reduce the cost of advanced low-carbon technologies, such as
those related to waste-to-energy schemes and smart grids, which often
have initial high investment costs and long cost recovery periods.
With the establishment of the JFJCM, ADB is the first multilateral
development bank to have a trust fund for supporting GHG reduction
projects under the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) .
The
eligible countries of the JFJCM are developing member countries of ADB
that have signed memoranda of understanding for the JCM with the
Government of Japan. To date, eight DMCs are eligible—Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives,
Mongolia, Palau, and Vietnam. The list of eligible DMCs is expected to
expand.-VNA