In his first working day in Vietnam, Jim Yong Kim met Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to discuss Vietnam’s achievements in poverty reduction and development objectives. He also signed a number of documents.

The World Bank recently forecast that Vietnam's GDP growth in 2014 would be 5.4 percent thanks to the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the sharp increase of exports of manufactured goods.

However, Vietnam still faces challenges in both the immediate and long-term future. Domestic demand remains weak because private sector confidence is still not strong enough, progress of reform remains slow and bad debt has not been fully resolved. These factors will influence the growth of Vietnam.

The World Bank also expressed concern about inequality in Vietnam, especially in urban populations.

"Common concern about inequality will tend to increase over time as more and more people in Vietnam move to the city and they can witness conspicuous differences in social welfare," World Band experts said.

Jim Yong Kim was born in 1959 in South Korea. His family settled in America when he was five years old. He holds a medical Ph.D. He became the 12th President of the World Bank on 1/7/2012.

This is his first visit to Vietnam as the head of the World Bank. Earlier, he visited China on July 7-9 to discuss reforms in the health sector.

Tran Cham