On November 4, 2020, within the framework of the IMF/WBG 2020 Annual Meetings, Mr. Pham Binh Minh, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs co-chaired a virtual High-level Dialogue with Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg, World Bank Managing Director of Operations. Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) also attended this Dialogue.
The Dialogue was also attended by the Representative of the Government of Vietnam (GoV) at the World Bank (WB), leaders of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Planning and Investment. On the WB’s side, there was Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, Regional Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific; Mr. Afonso Garcia Mora, Vice President for Asia and the Pacific of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and other senior leaders of the WB Country Office in Vietnam.
At the Dialogue, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh emphasized that the GoV treasures and appreciates the valuable and effective support of the WB and the WB Managing Director personally extended to Vietnam over the past time, especially on the path to become a lower middle income country, as well as the WB's assistance to Vietnam's graduation from IDA with an appropriate transitional policy. The Deputy Prime Minister also asserted that the GoV always considers the WB to be an important development partner with significant contributions to the national socio-economic development through many effective projects, programs and policy consultancy.
The Deputy Prime Minister welcomed the WB’s non-refundable aid worth 6.2 million USD for Vietnam to combat COVID-19. He suggested that the WB continue to support and provide more resources to Vietnam to further respond to this pandemic. He also proposed that the WB closely coordinate with the Vietnamese ministries and agencies in order to remove the bottlenecks in the disbursement of the loans from the WB and other donors in Vietnam.
Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh also shared that Vietnam is currently in the process of formulating a Finance-Budget Plan, and a Public Investment Plan for the next five years (2021-2026) with enormous demands for infrastructure investments, renewable energy development, promotion of sustainable growth, responses to climate change, and investments into highly viable projects, etc. He suggested that the WB continue its support for Vietnam in these areas and assist Vietnam to have quick access to the needed capital resources, especially the concessional loans.
For his part, the WB Managing Director said that the WB stands ready to support and cooperate with Vietnam in many spheres like climate change responses, renewable energy development, etc. He also expressed his sympathy over the huge losses caused by the recent floods in Vietnam’s central region, and applauded the country’s efforts in containing the pandemic while maintaining economic growth.
Mr. Axel van Trotsenburg emphasized that the relationship between Vietnam and the WB has been developing fruitfully, and stated that the WB is willing to engage in flexible exchanges amidst the Covid-19 pandemic to further enhance the cooperative relations between Vietnam and the WB.
Le Hang