On June 26, 2018 within the framework of the 6th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF 6), Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank (WB)’s Vice President for East Asia and Pacific paid a courtesy visit to Vietnam’s National Assembly (NA) Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan in Hanoi.
The National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan highly valued the WB’s role and activities in Viet Nam, affirming that the WB is an important development partner and policy advisor of Vietnamese Government, and has greatly contributed to the cause of socio-economic development of Vietnam. Emphasizing that the programmes and projects funded by the WB have matched with Viet Nam’s development orientations in the new period, Madam Ngan acknowledged the WB’s contributions in promoting the macro-economic stability, sustainable development and competitiveness of Vietnam.
Madam Kwakwa spoke highly of Vietnam’s recent economic achievements, including the macro-economic balance and the reduction of public debt ratio over GDP. While complimenting the NA’s role in keeping public debts within a safe level, she also asked Vietnamese parliament to consider to raise the capital disbursement ceiling of the medium-term public investment in order to support the projects funded with the concessional loans from the WB’s International Development Association (IDA), so that these projects can be carried out as scheduled.
Regarding to the environment, Madam Victoria Kwakwa shared that the environmental impacts are a big issue in every country’s development agenda, and the WB is available and ready to assist Vietnam in dealing with this challenge, including hazardous and plastic waste management, and environmental protection in business operations.
Also on the side of the 6th Assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF 6), on 27 June in Da Nang, Vietnam, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a reception for the WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with WB Vice President for East Asia and Pacific Kwakwa in Da Nang (Photo: VGP)
The Government leader highly appreciated the fast disbursement progress of the WB-financed capital sources, especially in the 2012-2016 period, and confirmed that Vietnamese Government has requested the local authorities and Government agencies to speed up the implementation of the WB-funded projects. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc proposed that the World Bank continue to fund and provide technical support for Vietnam, especially the mechanism for supporting Vietnam in the transitional period of graduation from the International Development Association (IDA) funding, in order to keep on with the sustainable achievements obtained so far in the socio-economic development and poverty reduction in the country.
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