HANOI, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- International donors pledged here Friday to offer Vietnam the biggest-ever official development assistance (ODA) of nearly 5.43 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, up from 4.45 billion dollars in 2007.

    They committed to continue support Vietnam's goals of further reducing poverty, and maintaining economic growth in an inclusive and sustainable manner, Ajay Chhibber, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam said at the 2007 Consultative Group (CG) Meeting which concluded on Friday.

    Of the pledged amount, 1.35 billion dollars come from the Asian Development Bank, over 1.11 billion dollars from Japan, 1.11 billion dollars from the World Bank, and 962.8 million dollars from the European Union.

    The Vietnamese government will direct to improve the effectiveness of ODA use in 2008 as well as following years, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said at the two-day meeting.

    In 2007, Vietnam is estimated to post gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8.5 percent, and slash poverty rate to 14.7 percent from 18 percent in 2006.