The AFD will provide a long-term loan of US$100 million to BIDV and technical assistance worth 300,000 euros ($366,000) to the bank and its customers.

BIDV General Director Le Ngoc Lam said the agreement would help create new opportunities in relations between BIDV and AFD in many fields, especially green credit.

He said using comprehensive international standards on green credit had helped BIDV improve its operations and strictly control credit risks.

AFD Director in Viet Nam Fabrice Richy said the loan is the first SUNREF credit quota it has implemented in Viet Nam in the form of a concessional loan without a government guarantee.

SUNREF is a green finance label deployed by AFD with nearly 70 partner banks in 30 countries and territories.

AFD hopes that, through BIDV, it can continue to grant preferential loans and non-refundable aid to Vietnamese businesses, contributing to promoting green growth and climate change adaptation in the country, Richy said.

The agency previously entrusted BIDV to implement a number of projects, such as the northern power transmission project worth 40 million euros and a project on housing development for people in floodplains in the Mekong Delta worth 25 million euros.

AFD is a non-profit international financial institution operating for the French government by providing loans and non-refundable aid to organisations and State-owned enterprises, with the main target reducing emissions and coping with climate change.

It has so far financed more than 90 projects in Viet Nam with total funding of nearly 2.3 billion euros, in the fields of infrastructure, transport, energy, and agriculture. — VNS