On October 4, 2024, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a meeting with Ms. Mariam J. Sherman, WB Country Director for Viet Nam, Cambodia and the Lao PDR.
At the meeting, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong congratulated Ms. Mariam J. Sherman on being appointed as the WB Country Director for Viet Nam, Cambodia and the Lao PDR, starting from May 1, 2024. The SBV Governor expressed her beliefs that, with her rich experience, Ms. Mariam J. Sherman would lead the WB Country Office for Viet Nam, Cambodia and the Lao PDR to successes in the current context of uncertainties, as well as provide the Government of Vietnam with effective consultancy in order to formulate appropriate policies and plans in the sectors and areas of transport, energy, climate change responses, water management in the Mekong region.
The SBV Governor also briefed the guests of the results in the monetary policy management, which has contributed to the economic development. In the coming time, the SBV would continue to manage the exchange rate in a way that both creates a room for the exchange rate to move flexibly, absorb any external shocks, and intervene in the forex market to limit excessive fluctuations in the exchange rate, contributing to maintaining the stability of the forex market. The SBV Governor emphasized that the SBV would be consistent in managing the monetary policy towards the goals of ensuring the inflation control, maintaining the macro-economic stability, and supporting the economy.
The SBV Governor expressed her high appreciation for the “Vietnam: Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development” Project funded by the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) through the WB. Over the past time, the Project has brought about positive results and contributed to accelerating the reforms and strengthening the soundness and stability of Vietnam’s banking sector.
An overview of the meeting
For her part, the WB Country Director asserted that Vietnam is one of the WB’s critical partners and the SBV has always been a bridge between the WB and the Government. Ms. Mariam J. Sherman asserted that, in her role as the WB Country Director, she would do her best to continue promoting the cooperation between the WB and Vietnam, for the improvement of the infrastructure and transport systems of waterways, roads and railways, especially in the Mekong region; accelerating the process of sustainable energy transition, and spreading Vietnam's success story in low-emission rice cultivation.
The WB Country Director went on to affirm that the WB always prioritizes a big part of its sources for Vietnam, focusing on the key projects in the priority areas, in line with Vietnam's development needs. Along with that, the WB Country Director also expressed her wishes to support Vietnam to focus these sources on a number of large projects in a number of key areas, such as the program of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice in the Mekong Delta; the large-scale, sustainable infrastructure projects in response to climate change; the clean energy projects, etc.
Toward the end of the meeting, the WB Country Director expressed her hope that the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and the WB would be further strengthened and developed; and wished to continue cooperating closely and effectively with the SBV, in order to accompany Vietnam on the next development journey of becoming a developed country by 2045.
Le Hang