(VOV) – The Vietnam’s Women Union and Belgium Development and Cooperation Agency yesterday held a conference to conclude the third phase of the Vietnam-Belgium credit project and launch the Credit Support Fund model.

The project consists of 3 phases implemented from 1999 to 2012. Over the past 13 years, the Belgium government has provided nearly 45 billion VND to 52 Vietnamese poor women to develop their business. Nguyen Thi Hoa, Chairwoman of the Vietnam’s Women Union said though the project has concluded, they will continue maintaining the Credit Support Fund to make it more professional and further attract investors: "We’ll make a proposal to the Government to establish a credit support fund to assist newly-established financial organizations. It’s necessary to promote micro finance to support poor women. More support is needed to help provinces establish micro-financial institutions".