Vietnam among Canada's foreign aid recipients

Ottawa (VNA) - Vietnam is among 20 countries or regions to receive Canadian foreign aid, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has announced.

CIDA said the vast majority of Canada 's bilateral aid money will go to the
Caribbean and the West Bank/Gaza regions in addition to Africa, Asia and South
America . Vietnam and Indonesia are also in Canada 's list of favoured
recipients in Southeast Asia .
Ottawa 's bilateral aid programmes account for over half of Canada 's
overall assistance money -- 53 percent, or roughly 1.5 billion CAD. Under the
plan announced on Feb. 23, the 20 above-mentioned places will receive 80 percent
of that 1.5 billion CAD.
The other half of Canadian aid will be channelled to the United Nations World Food
Programme, and to countries dealing with urgent crises like natural disasters.
Canadian International Cooperation Minister Bev Oda said in 2005 the Liberal
Government promised to target aid to 25 countries.
The reduction in the number of its recipients is expected to make its foreign aid
more effective, she added.-Enditem