Germany and Australia signed a joint communiqué with Vietnam in Hanoi Monday for funding and managing climate change projects in the country.

The two governments will jointly fund environmental projects along the Mekong Delta coast where rising seas due to climate change are expected to cause a massive loss of agricultural lands and flooding.

At the signing ceremony, German Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development Dirk Niebel announced his nation would provide US$26 million in the 2009 fiscal year – which ends March 31.

Richard Moore, deputy general director of the Australian Agency for International Development, said Australia would consider granting a similar amount from its Official Development Assistance (ODA) pledge this year.

Australia pledged ODA worth $96.5 million to Vietnam in 2009 at a donors’ meeting held in Hanoi last December. Germany promised $187 million.

The ODA pledges have been made for projects in healthcare, energy, education, traffic infrastructure, and environment.

(VNA)