During a meeting with DeputyPrime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi on December 21, Dionesaid he will do his best to strengthen the bilateral relationship which wasfostered by his predecessors.
He wished that the Vietnamesegovernment would provide all possible support for him to fulfill assigned tasksduring his tenure.
Deputy PM Minh, for his part,assured the guest that the financial assistance provided by the WB is being effectivelyutilised for socio-economic development in Vietnam.
He thanked the lender forcoordinating with development partners to consider a solution to help Vietnamgraduate from the International Development Association’s preferentialtreatment for 2018-2021, which suits Vietnam’s specific socio-economicconditions.
The host asked the WB to continuehelping Vietnam with socio-economic development, especially in povertyreduction, health care, climate change response and rural development andagriculture.
As one of the largest donors of Vietnam,the WB committed 22.5 billion USD in non-refundable aid and preferential loans tothe country as of September 2016, most of them are used for poverty reduction,rural infrastructure upgrade, health care, clean water supply and climatechange response.-VNA