Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung thanked the World Bank (WB) for its effective assistance to the development of Vietnam over the past years during his meeting with WB President Jim Yong Kim in Hanoi on July 17.

He pledged that Vietnam will use the nearly 4 billion USD loan that was freshly committed by the WB in a most effective way. The sum will come from the institution’s International Development Association (IDA).

PM Dung noted that burdening severe consequences from wars, Vietnam has a high proportion of poor households, especially among ethnic minority groups and it is forecast to be one of the countries hardest hit by climate change and sea level rise.

Therefore, the country is in need of both policy consultancy and financial aid from the international community, including the WB, for securing sustainable development, he said.

He also suggested that the institution consider further support for Vietnam in poverty reduction among ethnic minority groups, afforestation in coastal areas and hospital overload settlement, while boosting cooperation in public-private partnership (PPP), especially in transportation infrastructure projects.

Vietnam also hopes to get access to other capital sources from the WB, PM Dung added.

The WB President said Vietnam is one of the two countries receiving such a large loan from his institution, pledging to mobilise all possible sources to aid the country.

The WB hopes to coordinate with other development partners of Vietnam , including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in order to ensure the effective use of assistance, he said.

The executive clarified that the bank is keen on strengthening partnership with Vietnam in the state-owned enterprises’ restructuring, PPP, climate change adaptation, new energy resources, health care and social welfare.

He said the WB will consider PM Dung’s proposals and add them to the Strategy Report until 2030 that it is building with Vietnam .

The same day, both host and guest witnessed the signing of an 876 million USD loan agreement for five programmes and projects relating to national economy competitiveness, electricity, urban development, healthcare personnel and climate change response.

At a press conference held later, PM Dung said Vietnam highly values the IDA loans for 2014-2017 and vowed to disburse the capital in a rapid and effective manner.

Kim stated that the WB will continue standing side by side with Vietnam during its path of becoming an industrialised country.

The development story of Vietnam should be shared worldwide, he added.

Both sides said they believe that with their joint efforts, the Vietnam-WB ties will be elevated to a new height.-VNA

WB President pledges continued help to Vietnam

The World Bank Group (WB) is willing to boost cooperation with Vietnam and help the country devise comprehensive and effective development strategies, WB President Jim Yong Kim said at his meeting with President Truong Tan Sang in Hanoi on July 17.

According to the WB President, Vietnam has a good chance to soon become an industrialized country.

He took the occasion to inform President Sang that Vietnam will be the second country to receive nearly 4 billion USD in preferential loans from the WB’s International Development Association (IDA) to promote public-private partnership and economic growth.

The guest affirmed that his institution will send financial experts to help Vietnam use the funding effectively. He added that WB will continue to work together with Vietnam in such fields as vocational training, health care, climate change and renewable energy.

President Sang valued the WB’s cooperation with Vietnam and highlighted its substantial assistance to the latter’s localities in poverty elimination.

He suggested both sides further their multifaceted partnership, particularly in fields important to Vietnam such as economic restructuring, human resource quality, and environmental protection.

Party leader Trong receives WB President

Receiving World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim in Hanoi on July 17, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong appreciated the WB’s effective cooperation and contributions to Vietnam’s socio-economic development and poverty reduction.

Trong briefed his guest on Vietnam’s major goals till 2020, saying the country will focus on renovating the growth model and accelerating economic restructuring, aiming to become a modern, industrial nation by the end of the next decade.

He answered Kim’s questions regarding Vietnam’s economic development policy and said he hopes that the WB will continue to share with Vietnam international experience in institutional reform, economic management, poverty reduction, and socio-economic development.

He proposed that the WB increase financial and technical assistance to help Vietnam meet its development goals.

President Kim expressed his admiration for Vietnam’s impressive development achievements, especially in meeting the WB’s two biggest development goals of poverty reduction and improvement of the poor’s livelihood.

The World Bank is proud to be a partner of Vietnam and it is willing to provide additional assistance for the country in the time to come, Kim said.

He said that he believes in Vietnam’s future development and that the country will certainly achieve its set targets.

VNA/VOV/VNN