As a close friend and partner of Vietnam, Ambassador Mudie reaffirmed Australia’s strong support for Vietnam’s response to COVID-19 and its economic recovery.
This follows four previous COVAX deliveries to Vietnam totaling 7.5 million vaccine doses made available by the United States, bringing the total to 9.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses so far, and more is planned.
In addition to these donations of 8.1 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, the United States has committed more than $26.7 million in COVID- 19 related assistance to Vietnam since the start of the pandemic.
Ambassador Mudie announced that Australia will increase its support to Vietnam by assisting it to purchase approximately 3.7 million additional COVID-19 vaccine doses.
Some 58% of Asian issuers say that these issues are very important to their organisation, which is significantly higher than the global average of 44%.
In addition to the 7.5 million vaccine doses the United States donated through the COVAX Facility, Vietnam has received 4,176,00 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX Facility.
It is estimated that 27,000 people in six provinces will benefit from the project’s interventions, 70% of them are elderly.
Economic activity began to slow down in the second quarter of 2021, and growth forecasts have been downgraded for most countries in the region, according to the World Bank’s East Asia and Pacific Fall 2021 Economic Update.
GDP growth in Q3 may likely have slowed to 1.9% y/y, from 6.6% in Q2, as the pandemic hit the economy.
The strict lockdown in Viet Nam’s southern region and in Ha Noi and surrounding industrial areas, which contribute nearly 50% of the country’s GDP, dragged down the index of industrial production in August.
Growth picked up in the first half of 2021, largely because of higher trade volumes, but slowed down in the second half of the year as the fourth wave of the pandemic took a toll on business and the labor market.
Ms. Ferro brings over three decades of experience across Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East, and South Asia and has held several leadership positions in the World Bank.