On the afternoon of March 14, the Working Committee on Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations held a national online briefing conference on foreign non-governmental work to summarize the work in 2022 and discuss directions and tasks in 2023 with 63 bridge points in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government. Mr. Ha Kim Ngoc - Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Non-Governmental Organizations chaired the conference.

At Nghe An bridge point, Mr. Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs chaired the conference.

Overview of the conference at Nghe An bridge point

Up to now, there are nearly 400 foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) licensed to operate in Vietnam. FNG aid has been deployed in 63 provinces/cities, in all areas from health, education, economic development, support to solve social and environmental problems, etc. to policy formulation and law enforcement. Most of the projects are in line with needs, achieving efficiency. Organizations complied with legal regulations; actively contributed to Vietnam on the external front, voiced support for Vietnam at international mechanisms and forums.

In 2022, the aid value, although decreasing, is worth noting, showing the cooperation and consensus of agencies, ministries, branches, organizations, partners and localities. The Working Committee on NGOs and agencies have coordinated and well supported Vietnamese agencies, partners, and NGOs to successfully complete their assigned tasks. In addition, in the past time, there have been many positive changes, many new and outstanding points in the implementation of each task of the agencies in the Committee, especially the management and advocacy.

It is forecasted that in 2023, the world situation will have more complicated developments, the risk of instability will increase, many problems beyond the forecast such as: COVID-19 pandemic, strategic competition between major countries will become increasingly fiercely, drastically; the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to negatively affect the global political, security and economic situation, etc. will affect aid policies and aid sources of NGOs.

Regarding the operation orientation in the coming time, ministries, branches and localities should continue to thoroughly grasp the Party's instructions on FNG work, Decree 58/ND-CP dated August 31, 2022 on registration and operation management of NGOs. At the same time, strengthening coordination between the central and local authorities and agencies; strengthening mobilization of resources together with mobilization of support from NGOs. Diversifying forms of exchange and cooperation with NGOs; concretizing the objectives closely following the orientations and priorities for implementation.

In Nghe An, in 2022, there are about 60 NGOs registered to operate, with 19 projects and 07 non-projects being implemented with a total committed capital of 4,169,041 USD, equal to 94.57 % over the same period in 2021; actual disbursement reached 87.13% of the plan in 2022. FNG aid funds deployed in Nghe An are mainly concentrated in poor and difficult mountainous areas such as Con Cuong, Que Phong, Thanh Chuong, and Anh Son districts. Non-governmental aid has contributed to improving the capacity building for local authorities and people in environmental protection, livelihood development, and quality improvement of teaching and learning, etc. However, the aid value of the projects is quite small, so the effectiveness is not high.

 Phan Quynh