On May 27, 2024, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a meeting with Ms. Manuela V Ferro, Vice President of the World Bank (WB). Also attending the meeting from the SBV’s side, there were representatives from the International Cooperation Department, the Monetary Policy Department and the Banking Supervision Agency.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong meets WB Vice President
At the meeting, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong warmly welcomed the working visit of WB Vice President Manuela V Ferro to Vietnam and congratulated Ms. Mariam J. Sherman on being appointed as the WB Country Director for Viet Nam, Cambodia, and the Lao P.D.R. from May 1, 2024. The SBV Governor expressed her beliefs that, with her rich experience and past achievements, Ms. Mariam J. Sherman would successfully lead the WB Office for Viet Nam, Cambodia, and the Lao P.D.R. in a time of fluctuations around the world; continue to strengthen the important role of the WB as a pioneer organization in providing orientations towards socio-economic development, poverty reduction and climate change response; and further tighten the cooperative relations between Vietnam and the regional members.
For her part, WB Vice President Manuela V Ferro highly acknowledged the SBV’s role in supporting the Government, contributing to controlling the inflation, maintaining the socio-economic stability, creating a solid foundation for the economic growth, and improving the confidence of the people, businesses, and foreign investors in the domestic currency and Vietnam’s business environment.
In the context that the world economy is facing many unprecedented challenges, such as the persistent geo-political conflicts, high inflation rates, hiking interest rates, etc., the SBV Governor hoped that the WB would continue accompanying, sharing its precious experience and supporting Vietnam to overcome all difficulties and challenges. In her comments, the WB Vice President acknowledged the efforts of the Government of Vietnam, the Ministries, agencies and the SBV over the past time in closely coordinating with the WB Office to look for measures to resolve the difficulties/obstacles in the legal regulations of the two sides.
Participants at the meeting
In addition, the SBV Governor spoke highly of the “Vietnam: Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development” Project financed 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 the banking sector.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong expressed her hope that, with the experience and lessons learned from the previous working period, the WB Vice President and WB Country Director for Vietnam, Cambodia and the Lao P.D.R. would provide effective advice and suggestions to the Government for the making of the trans-regional and transnational policies and plans in the areas of all the three countries’ interests, such as transport, energy, climate change responses, water resource management in the Mekong river. The SBV would continue to closely cooperate with the WB Office to tighten the partnership between Vietnam and the WB, as well as with other countries in the region.
Le Hang