On March 13, 2024, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a meeting with Mr. Masatsugu Asakawa, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and attended the ceremony celebrating the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the credit relations between the ADB and Vietnam. Also attending the ceremony, there was SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong, representatives from the Ministries, central agencies, local authorities, Embassies, international institutions in Vietnam, the private sector, etc.
Speaking at the meeting and the ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh re-affirmed that the Government of Vietnam always considers the ADB one of the most important partners, and expressed his high appreciation for the presence of the ADB President in Vietnam on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the credit relations between the ADB and Vietnam.
Briefing about Vietnam’s development process, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared that from a poor and war-torn country, after nearly 40 years of renovation, Vietnam has obtained remarkable achievements thanks to the spirit of self-reliance under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, as well as the involvement of the entire political system, the confidence of the people and businesses, together with the support of the international friends and partners, including the ADB.
An overview of the ceremony celebrating 30 years of partnership between Vietnam and the ADB
Therefore, the cooperative activities between the ADB and Vietnam should focus on the development and investment projects that can create changes in the situation, in the spirit of harmonious benefits and shared risks. The Prime Minister hoped that the ADB would continue to support Vietnam in terms of capital resources, technology, governance capacity building, human resource training, policy consultancy, the implementation of programs and policies to promote sustainable growth, improving the competitiveness of the economy, and realizing the country's development goals to 2030 and to 2045. The Prime Minister proposed that the cooperation between the two sides focus on a number of key areas, such as the responses to climate change, strategic infrastructure projects, especially in the Mekong Delta, emerging areas such as semiconductor chips, digital economy, green transition, circular economy, shared economy, the development of the private sector.
The Prime Minister also asked the ADB to provide its feedbacks on the existing regulations, the institutional structures and the procedures, and share the ADB’s and other countries’ experience, so that Vietnam can refer to in improving the legal frameworks. The Prime Minister also shared that a Deputy Prime Minister would be assigned to directly engage and lead the further reviews and improvements of the legal frameworks for the ODA and concessional loans in order to remove the obstacles, shorten the time for appraisal, and speed up the implementation of projects, improving the preparation for and the effective utilization of the assistance resources from the development partners in general and the ADB in particular.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa at the meeting
Speaking at the ceremony, ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa highly complimented Vietnam's inclusive economic growth and its commitments to the key global development agendas, such as the climate actions and the empowerment of women. He also shared about the results of the ADB’s support in the sectors of healthcare, education, urban and rural services.
ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa speaks at the ceremony
In line with the priorities of the Government of Vietnam, the ADB's strategy for Vietnam in the period of 2023-2026 will focus on promoting the inclusive growth, the green economy and the private sector development.
The ADB is also committed to serving as the Climate Bank for the Asia and Pacific region. The ADB President expressed his pleasure at Vietnam’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, and the formulation of a comprehensive plan for the green transition. Finally, the ADB President highly acknowledged the close cooperative relations between the ADB and Vietnam over the past 30 years, and expressed his gratitude for the Prime Minister's presence, and thanked the SBV Governor for hosting the ceremony celebrating the 30 years of partnership between Vietnam and the ADB.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the ceremony
For her part, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong highly acknowledged the ADB's role and its contributions to Vietnam's development in general, and the banking sector in particular through various technical assistance and policy consultancy for the SBV, as well as funding programs for Vietnamese commercial banks.
As the representative of the Government of Vietnam at the ADB and other international financial and monetary institutions, during the past 30 years, the SBV has made efforts and effectively performed its role as the representative of the Government, as well as an important bridge connecting the ADB’s policies and activities with the national development strategies and policies for each period, thereby mobilizing and effectively utilizing the assistance resources for the priority and key programs and projects of the Government, the Ministries, agencies and local authorities in Vietnam.
An overview of the ceremony
In the coming time, the SBV would continue to proactively coordinate with the ADB and other financial and monetary institutions to mobilize more resources to support the Government, the Ministries, agencies and local authorities in Vietnam to realize the socio-economic development goals.
Participants visit the display of the ADB’s 30-year presence in Vietnam
Toward the end of the ceremony, the participants visited an exhibition displaying photos of the achievements of the 30-year cooperation between Vietnam and the ADB.
Le Hang