Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue (right) shakes hands with Haoliang Xu, Assistant UN Secretary- General and Director of Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the UNDP in their meeting on August 31. 

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue made the request during his meeting in Haoi on August 31 with Haoliang Xu, Assistant UN Secretary- General and Director of Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who is in Vietnam for a working visit. 

The Deputy PM took the occasion to thanks donors and development partners, including the UN in general and the UNDP in particular, for their support of Vietnam in social-economic development as well as in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) throughout its 30 years of renewal. 

Hue appreciated the idea of building a strategic partnership between the UNDP and the Vietnamese Government. 

He informed the UNDP Director of challenges Vietnam may face in the upcoming time and affirmed that Vietnam attaches importance to making full use of domestic resources while mobilizing financial resources from development partners. 

On his part, Haoliang Xu spoke highly of the Vietnamese government’s policies on economic reform in the past years, which he said have contributed to the country’s success in carrying out the MDGs, especially in poverty alleviation. 

He also noted Vietnam will face big challenges when trying to reduce multi-dimensional poverty, responding to climate change and protecting the environment in the face of the significant reduction of preferential sponsorship sources. 

According to Haoliang Xu, UNDP wants to shift from a donor to a partner of Vietnam to bring more values to Vietnam’s social-economic programmes. 

He also expressed belief in the Vietnamese government’s policies and solutions for social-economic development and ensuring social security and hoped Vietnam will coordinate closer with the UNDP in effectively mobilising and using resources.

VNA