Australia commits to help Vietnam address corruption Photo: gdtd.vn Australian Ambassador to Vietnam Hugh Borrowman on Dec. 7 reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to helping Vietnam tackle corruption. Ambassador Borrowman said: “Corruption has strong negative effects on any country’s socio-economic development. It dampens productivity, deters investors, stunts growth and undermines the rule of law.” “Australia strongly supports Vietnam’s renewed efforts to tackle corruption. Vietnam has developed a good legal framework to deal with corruption and ongoing, consistent effort is needed to implement these laws,” he added. The Australian Government, through Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), has provided several anti-corruption training programmes for senior Vietnamese officials, including a three-year programme (2011-2014) worth 2.8-million AUD. AusAID will also provide 400,000 AUD towards a programme aimed at broadening the participation of citizens, civil society and businesses in combating corruption. The programme will run from 2013 to 2015 and will be administered by Transparency International Vietnam. VNA