NTO - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: In the next 30 years, cooperation between Vietnam

On the afternoon of March 13, in Hanoi , Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam - Asian Development Bank (ADB) partnership organized by the State Bank of Vietnam.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong; President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Masatsugu Askawa; leaders of central and local ministries, branches; representatives of embassies, international organizations, banks, and domestic and foreign economic organizations attended.

Over the past 30 years (1993 - 2023), the relationship between Vietnam and ADB has been continuously strengthened and developed; especially the timely and practical support of ADB for Vietnam in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, promoting socio-economic recovery and development, opening up opportunities for trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and countries around the world .

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and President of the Asian Development Bank Masatsugu Asakawa attend the ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam-Asian Development Bank partnership. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

The total amount of ADB funding for Vietnam to date has reached nearly 18 billion USD for about 600 programs and projects in many important areas such as agriculture, rural areas, education, health, transportation, energy, urban infrastructure, etc. At the same time, ADB has funded 6.45 billion USD for commercial transactions through commercial banks in Vietnam.

Through grants and policy advisory activities, ADB has supported the Government, ministries, sectors and localities to improve their management, operation, research and policy-making capacity.

Most recently, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ADB has supported Vietnam with a number of non-refundable aid packages worth hundreds of millions of USD to finance medical protective equipment; upgrade medical equipment; pharmaceutical production and for small and medium-sized enterprises and women-owned businesses.

On the contrary, Vietnam has made the most of ADB's support; Vietnam's active and responsible role has been increasingly strengthened and enhanced within ADB as well as in relations with member countries through ADB's regional cooperation frameworks and initiatives.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Vietnam-ADB partnership. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Speaking at the event, analyzing the role of finance in development, especially in the context of Vietnam going through a long period of resistance war, gaining national independence and being embargoed, with much pain and loss, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh sincerely thanked and highly appreciated ADB's support for Vietnam, especially in infrastructure development, poverty reduction, education and health development, etc., especially in remote, border and island areas; at the same time creating motivation and inspiration for other partners to cooperate and support Vietnam's development.

Presenting lessons learned in cooperation; analyzing the world situation; providing information on some of Vietnam's outstanding development achievements after more than 35 years of renovation, as well as in 2023 and on Vietnam's development foundations, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam develops the country on three main pillars: building socialist democracy; building a socialist rule-of-law state; and developing a socialist-oriented market economy.

Vietnam is focusing on implementing three strategic breakthroughs: perfecting institutions, developing high-quality human resources and building infrastructure; striving to build an independent, self-reliant economy associated with proactive, active international integration, comprehensively, practically and effectively. Throughout that process, Vietnam takes people as the center, the subject, the goal, the driving force and the resource for development; not sacrificing progress and fairness, social security and the environment to pursue economic growth alone.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that Vietnam is a developing country with a transitional economy, modest economic scale, large openness, and limited resilience to shocks. Therefore, along with capital support, the Prime Minister requested ADB to provide policy advice to Vietnam; support Vietnam in building and perfecting institutions, especially perfecting socialist-oriented market economic institutions. At the same time, ADB continues to create motivation and inspiration for other partners to support and cooperate with Vietnam in development.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the ceremony to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Vietnam-ADB partnership. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Believing that the new phase requires new thinking and approaches, the Prime Minister suggested that the two sides choose to cooperate on specific, focused, and key programs and projects to help Vietnam turn around and transform its state for rapid, sustainable, and inclusive development, leaving no one behind. In particular, focusing on combating climate change, green transformation, digital transformation, developing a green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, emerging industries such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, big data, new energy, etc. Thereby, helping Vietnam achieve its goal of becoming a developing country with modern industry and high middle income by 2030; and becoming a developed country with high income by 2045.

The Prime Minister emphasized that over the past 30 years, Vietnam and ADB have cooperated effectively, and hoped that the next 30 years of cooperation between Vietnam and ADB would be even more effective, in the spirit of "harmonious benefits and shared risks". "With sincerity and heart-to-heart affection, all obstacles will be overcome, and the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and ADB in the coming time will be continuously strengthened and further developed", the Prime Minister believed.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong speaks. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

* Earlier, in the afternoon of the same day, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Masatsugu Askawa, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), who was visiting Vietnam and attending the 30th Anniversary of the Vietnam - ADB partnership.

Welcoming the ADB President to Vietnam, the Prime Minister affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always considers ADB as one of the important, close and trustworthy development partners. The Prime Minister said that after more than 35 years of renovation, Vietnam has never had such a foundation, potential, position and international prestige as it does today. Vietnam's achievements have been thanks to the effective cooperation and support of ADB.

Believing that after 30 years of cooperation between Vietnam and ADB, the relationship has become more mature in all aspects, the Prime Minister suggested that in the new period, cooperation between Vietnam and ADB needs to be innovated, focusing on development investment, with more focus and key points; institutions and procedures need to be improved; with newer thinking and ways of doing things to bring about higher efficiency.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh receives ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Thanking the Prime Minister for taking the time to receive him and for his positive comments about ADB, ADB President Masatsugu Askawa congratulated Vietnam on its important achievements in all areas. The ADB President emphasized that the world today faces many challenges. However, in that context, Vietnam remains steadfast in its development goals. ADB always cares about and supports Vietnam in its socio-economic development; and wishes to work with Vietnam to build effective cooperation projects.

According to Mr. Masatsugu Askawa, ADB can support Vietnam with financial resources to implement green transformation projects, energy transformation, infrastructure development, support private sector participation in public-private partnership projects; improve private sector skills; support the development of emerging industries such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence. ADB hopes that the Vietnamese Government will support and promote the implementation of cooperation projects more quickly.

Appreciating the opinion of the ADB President, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that the President and ADB continue to accompany Vietnam, share experiences and support Vietnam in policy advice, especially macroeconomic, monetary and fiscal policies, ensuring major balances, controlling inflation, promoting growth, in accordance with the situation in Vietnam; support Vietnam in promoting sustainable growth, promoting the development of green economy, digital economy, circular economy, enhancing the competitiveness of the economy; support Vietnamese enterprises to participate more deeply in the global supply chain.

The Prime Minister said that Vietnam is the third country to ratify the JETP Declaration with countries within and outside the Group of Seven (G7). Vietnam has issued the Power Plan VIII and is developing a plan to implement the Power Plan VIII, through which there will be specific project programs.

Vietnam is implementing climate change mitigation in many areas, in many specific projects and programs. In particular, Vietnam is building 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice; implementing projects to develop electric cars...

Appreciating ADB's efforts in mobilizing resources of up to 3 billion USD for about 23 projects in Vietnam in the 2023-2026 period, the Prime Minister asked ADB to coordinate with Vietnamese ministries and branches to immediately implement specific projects in 2024.

The Government has assigned a Deputy Prime Minister to be in charge and has requested relevant ministries and branches to review and perfect institutions and policies on public investment and ODA capital. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested ADB to coordinate with Vietnam to perfect institutions and procedures to effectively disburse and implement ADB loan resources.

Regarding the remaining issues regarding tax exemption procedures, the Prime Minister said that he has requested the Ministry of Finance to promptly amend procedures towards simplification, in accordance with Vietnam's commitments in international treaties; in the spirit of harmonious benefits, shared risks, mutual benefit, and win-win.

The Prime Minister proposed establishing a Working Group between Vietnam and ADB to promote capital cooperation and policy support for Vietnam.

According to VNA/Tin Tuc Newspaper

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