The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) has signed an agreement to receive a long-term US$100 million credit line for environmental protection, climate change response and green growth as part of French development agency AFD's Sustainable Use of Natural Resources and Energy Finance (SUNREF) initiative.

Under the deal, AFD will also supply technical assistance, valued at €300,000 (US$366,000), to the Vietnamese bank and its customers.

The loan is the first SUNREF credit line to be implemented in Vietnam in the form of a concessional loan without government guarantee, says Fabrice Richy, AFD’s country director.

The SUNREF initiative was developed by AFD to support financial institutions and their clients to boost financing for sustainable natural resources management projects focusing on clean energy.

BIDV’s application of comprehensive international standards on green credit has resulted in better credit risk control and operations, notes the bank’s CEO Le Ngoc Lam.

AFD has been operating since 1994 in Vietnam, where it has financed more than 90 projects, worth almost €2.3 billion, in the transport, infrastructure, energy and agriculture sectors.

The agency, whose operations support the implementation of the Paris agreement, is a non-profit international financial institution operating for the French government by providing loans and non-refundable aid to organizations and state-owned enterprises.