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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Ms. Manuela V. Ferro, World Bank (WB) Vice President for East Asia and Pacific. (Source: VNA) |
On the afternoon of November 14, at the Government headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Ms. Manuela Ferro, Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific of the World Bank Group (WB); Mr. Riccardo Puliti, Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Mr. John Gandolfo, Vice President of IFC and colleagues at the WB and IFC Offices in Vietnam.
At the reception, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always considers the WB and IFC as very important development partners, having actively supported and contributed to Vietnam's socio-economic development through policy consulting and financial support for ODA projects, preferential loans, and private sector loans.
Recently, the Prime Minister and WB President Ajay Banga discussed and exchanged solutions to promote the partnership between Vietnam and the WB, and implemented specific actions to prepare for large, important projects that can turn the situation around and change the status.
Afterwards, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang also had two specific working sessions with Ms. Carolyn Turk - WB Country Director in Vietnam and assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to urgently complete the establishment of an Inter-sectoral Working Group to urge and promote the preparation, implementation, disbursement and removal of obstacles for WB loan projects.
Proposing that both sides innovate cooperation activities with new methods, larger scale, and strengthen public-private cooperation, the Prime Minister hopes that the WB will focus capital with the lowest interest rates on key, large-scale potential projects such as large-scale transport and urban development projects (highways, urban infrastructure, water supply and drainage, urban railways, North-South high-speed railways, Ho Chi Minh City - Can Tho railway line, etc.); digital transformation projects, energy (wind power, solar power, power transmission), smart agriculture, low carbon emissions; climate change response projects in the Mekong Delta region, especially the 1 million hectare high-quality rice program, etc.
Regarding the projects being implemented, which are facing some difficulties and obstacles, mainly such as slow compensation, site clearance, lack of counterpart funds, limited capacity, differences between Vietnam's and the World Bank's regulations, etc., the Prime Minister assigned Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang to regularly direct relevant ministries and branches to find solutions to remove difficulties, promote the implementation and disbursement of this important committed capital source from the World Bank; requested the World Bank to closely coordinate to speed up the process and streamline procedures between the two sides.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always considers the WB and IFC as very important development partners. (Source: VNA) |
WB Vice President Manuela Ferro assessed that Vietnam has achieved great results in socio-economic development and said that the WB will continue to accompany and support Vietnam towards the goal of becoming a developed, high-income country by 2045.
The WB Vice President said that in the context of more difficulties, challenges and disadvantages globally, both sides need to make more efforts so that the WB can continue to contribute to Vietnam's development achievements, especially quickly resolving difficulties and obstacles, speeding up the preparation, approval and implementation of projects.
Ms. Manuela Ferro highly agreed with the Prime Minister's opinions and appreciated Vietnam's commitments and efforts on sustainable development and climate change response; said that the WB is actively coordinating with ministries and branches to identify large, key projects that the two sides will focus on cooperating on in the coming time with the best interest rates, especially in the areas mentioned by the Prime Minister, including transportation, energy, digital transformation, climate change response in the Mekong Delta...
Talking with IFC leaders, the Prime Minister suggested that as an international financial institution with extensive capacity and experience in private sector development, IFC should continue to have resources and large investments, especially helping to form funds to promote private sector development, becoming an important pillar of the economy, especially in emerging, high-tech fields such as semiconductors, clean energy, electric vehicles, etc.
IFC leaders pledged to continue to support and assist Vietnam, especially in promoting the growth of Vietnamese private enterprises and attracting leading investors to Vietnam.
Regarding some problems and proposals related to the projects mentioned by IFC leaders, the Prime Minister said that he is directing relevant ministries and branches to study, review and promptly report solutions, in order to create favorable conditions for IFC and international financial institutions to mobilize more foreign investment loans for Vietnam's private sector in the coming time.
To date, the WB has committed to lending Vietnam about 25 billion USD to implement more than 170 projects in the fields of transportation, agriculture, irrigation and rural development, education and training, energy, clean water, budget support, urban areas, environment, health care, etc.
Currently, the list of projects using WB loans being implemented has a total committed loan capital of 3 billion USD, and procedures are being carried out for 29 projects with a total need for WB loans of about 2.4 billion USD.
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