Japan to offer loan to Vietnam's satellite project

The Japanese government has decided to offer yen loans to Vietnam for its domestic satellite program.

The Southeast Asian country plans to launch 2 earth-observation satellites after 2017.

Japan will loan Vietnam about 50 billion yen, or 660 million dollars, as official development assistance or ODA. Japanese firms will be able to participate in the project as part of the agreement.

The 2 governments will likely finalize the deal at the end of this month.

Japan has not provided yen loans for satellite projects so far because of concerns that its technology would be diverted to military use.

But the government has decided to support Vietnam's project because the aim of the satellite is disaster-prevention, including flood forecasting. Mapping the country is another aim.

The Japanese government hopes to support Japan's satellite industry as long as the technology is not used for military purposes.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 07:18 +0900 (JST)