Vietnam receives the most Japanese ODA Japanese ODA is an important financial source for Vietnam in improving its infrastructure Nhan Dan Online - Vietnam received the greatest amount of Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) out of all recipients in 2013, with US$1.64 billion donated to the country, according to the Japan's ODA White Paper for 2013. Following Vietnam, Afghanistan received US$873 million, India US$704 million and Iraq US$360 million. Among ASEAN countries, Cambodia ranked seventh, Myanmar 17th and Laos 18th. The White Paper also stated that the Japanese ODA would help ASEAN countries accelerate the construction of infrastructure and narrow intraregional development gaps toward the goal of boosting regional 'connectivity'. “While supporting ASEAN’s efforts toward integration, it is hoped that the Japanese government will work harder to realise ODA that will also contribute to building a basis for overseas deployment of Japanese companies,” the paper says. During the past 20 years, Japan has provided Vietnam over US$20 billion of ODA, making it Vietnam’s largest bilateral donor. Japan also ranks first in the number of underway-foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam and is the third biggest trading partner of Vietnam. NhandanOnline