Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) receives Joaquim Levy, WB Managing Director and Group Chief Financial Officer (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc hopes the World Bank will play a better part in promoting cooperationin the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV)Development Triangle regions.
The Prime Minister made the remarks at ameeting with Joaquim Levy, WB Managing Director and Group Chief FinancialOfficer, on March 31, the final day of the sixth GMS Summit (GMS-6) and the 10thCLV Summit (CLV-10).
He said he is pleased with the strongdevelopment and effective cooperation between Vietnam and the WB and mentionedthe WB as one of Vietnam’s most important partners. He highly appreciated theWB’s support for Vietnam’s socio-economic development in recent years,particularly in poverty reduction.
Levy, for his part, thanked the Government ofVietnam for inviting the WB to the summits, while highlighting the events’agendas.
He spoke highly of the effective and practical partnership between Vietnam andother GMS nations. It sets a great example for other countries in the world.
He affirmed theWB attaches importance to cooperation with Vietnam, and appreciates Vietnam’sstrong development in recent times, especially in economic growth in connectionwith inclusive and equal development.
The WB is willing to support and cooperate with Vietnam, especially inproviding capital and technical assistance in the fields of finance, banking,climate change adaptation, and grassroots health care, he stressed.
While highly valuing the role played by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in promoting theprivate economic sector and infrastructure development, Levy said these areimportant domains that the WB wants to support nations, thus attractinginvestment in infrastructure.
The WB has guaranteeinstruments, which can support Vietnam in attracting privateinvestment, he noted.
Both the WB and the Asian Development Bank have projects to support Vietnam, hesaid, hoping for stronger cooperation among the sides to optimise the support.
Regarding projects to cope with climate change, Levy affirmed this is animportant field and the bank will spend 28 percent of its loans on the work,including for Vietnam.
Agreeing with Levy’s viewpoints andproposals, PM Phuc underlined that Vietnam has high resolve in climate changeresponse. The country organised a major conference last year to seek solutionsto this problem, and it hopes to receive the WB’s assistance in capital, adviceand policies in this issue.
He affirmed that Vietnam pledges to effectivelyuse the funded capital, including in the projects financed with theconcessional capital of the International Development Association (IDA) in2017.
As Vietnam still faces a number of difficultiesand challenges, he asked the WB to extend the rapid debt settlement schedulefor these aid, which is to ease the burden on budget, ensure safe fiscalindices, and facilitate Vietnam’s “graduation” from the IDA.
Aside from climate change response, the PM alsoasked the WB to provide capital and technical support for Vietnam in otherimportant fields, namely infrastructure, renewable energy, grassroots healthcare, and education, especially tertiary education. He added Vietnam also hopesto receive assistance in economic restructuring.
Echoing the WB Managing Director’s view, PM Phucsaid Vietnam considers businesses the core force in promoting economic growth,and among them, private firms play an important role.
Regarding the programmes and projects the WBplans to finance in 2018, he said relevant ministries and sectors are speedingup the verification so that these projects can receive funding on schedule.-VNA
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