On September 25, 2024, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) attended the meeting between Party General Secretary and State President To Lam and Mr. Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank (WB). The meeting took place within the framework of the visit to the United States by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam to attend the United Nations Summit of the Future, and the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly.
Party General Secretary and State President To Lam meets WB President Ajay Banga. Photo: Vietnam News Agency
At the meeting, the WB President asserted that Vietnam is one of the WB’s critical partners, and expressed his positive impressions with Vietnam’s changes over the past two decades, especially the way Vietnam has joined and continuously improved its position and role in the global supply chains. In the coming time, he proposed that the two sides should continue promoting the cooperation to improve the infrastructure systems of waterways, roads and railways, especially in the Mekong region; accelerating the sustainable energy transition, and spreading Vietnam's success stories in low-emission rice farming.
For his part, Party General Secretary and State President To Lam complimented highly the WB’s role in poverty reduction and in addressing global challenges. Mr. To Lam welcomed the WB’s strategic vision of “Creating a world free of poverty on a livable planet”, which has correctly identified the important priorities of human beings to open up new development cooperation programs focusing on sustainable development and green transition.
Mr. To Lam went on to assert that Vietnam always gives high priority to strengthen the cooperative relations with the WB, and suggested the WB continue to support Vietnam with the needed resources for the implementation of potential, key and breakthrough projects in association with the renovation of the growth model, restructuring of the economy, energy transition and climate change responses, improving the economy's resilience to fluctuations, risks, and unprecedented changes in the international environment. Mr. To Lam also expressed his beliefs that under the leadership of the WB President, the WB would accomplish its historic mission, and continue to effectively support developing countries in realizing the sustainable development goals.
Agreeing with the proposals raised by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam, the WB President confirmed that the WB would prioritize its resources for Vietnam, focusing on the key projects in the priority areas that Mr. To Lam had proposed. Besides, the WB President also expressed his hope to return to Vietnam at the earliest possibility, in order to promote further the cooperation between the two sides, for the development of Vietnam in particular and of the entire Asia in general.
Le Hang