UNITAR’s Training on the Legal Aspects of Debt, Economic and Financial Management for Vietnam
Future DFM Training Projects for the Government of Vietnam UNITAR is currently working with the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance and UNDP Hanoi to draw up the scope and content of a workshop series on Capital Market Development and Regulation. UNITAR expects to start training at the national level as from the second half of 2002. Introduction Since October 1999, UNITAR has conducted a series of Training Workshops for the Vietnamese government. This project is being implemented in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It is designed to support the Government of Vietnam in developing comprehensive and sustainable capacity to manage the external resource flows to the country, with a special focus on debt. It covers all institutions involved, primarily the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Office of the Government, and deals with the different categories of debt, including Government direct debt, the debt of the state enterprises and the private sector, short-term, as well as grant and on-lending. It covers all functional areas, from institutional framework and policy formulation through debt recording. Objectives The overall development objective of the project is to develop capacity for financially sustainable economic development. Immediate objectives are:
1.	To develop the legal and institutional infrastructure for external debt management;
2.	To develop the capacity to formulate sustainable debt strategies;
3.	To develop the capacity to negotiate loan agreements and to prudently and efficiently grant guarantees;
4.	To strengthen the capacity to utilise efficiently borrowed resources (including by on-lending) as well as to plan for servicing of the debt incurred; and
5.	To develop the capacity to collect, store, process and report on debt flows, including through the installation of UNCTAD’s Debt Management and Financial Analysis System (DMFAS) in the relevant agencies.
The first of these Workshops, a National Workshop on the Legal Aspects of Debt Negotiations, was held in Hanoi, from October 18 to 21, 1999. The second workshop, a National Workshop on Debt Re-negotiation Issues, was held in Hanoi, from May 9 to 12, 2000. The third workshop on Capital Market Development was conducted in Hai Phong last July 2 to 5, 2001. Future training activities are currently being discussed with the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam as well as with the UNDP Hanoi Office.
See Table of Training Activities for Vietnam, (Year 1996 to 2001)