NA Chairman meets WB President in the US
Vietnam wishes to receive additional support from the World Bank (WB) to finalise its market economy policies, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung told WB President Jim Yong Kim during their meeting in the US on September 8 (Vietnam time).
The top legislator called on the bank to increase preferential loans for Vietnam, especially those in service of sustainable development, infrastructure upgrades and poverty reduction. As one of the countries most affected by climate change, Vietnam suggested the bank assist the nation in coping with the phenomenon, he said.
Both hailed the fruitful developments in cooperation between Vietnam and the WB, saying many WB-funded projects in the Southeast Asian country have proven effective and contributed to the country’s economic growth.
During the Doi Moi (reform) process, Vietnam received the bank’s support in personnel training, experience sharing, building financial policies and implementing the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on community-based poverty reduction in particular, they said.
President Jim Yong Kim highly valued Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements in recent years, particularly those in realising sustainable development goals (SDGs). The WB continually aims to back development in nations, including Vietnam, he stressed, adding the bank will consider assisting the country in combating climate change.
* The same day, NA Chairman Hung attended a WB-organised seminar on the Vietnamese legislature’s increasingly important role in national development.
In his remarks, the legislator said Vietnam has made great strides in development, from urban to rural areas and in all socio-economic sectors. The country has realised the MDGs, he said, stressing the substantial support and high sense of responsibility of the WB during the process.
With continuous overhauls, the Vietnamese legislature has affirmed its role as the highest State power body and the highest representative body of the people, striving to improve the quality of State management, accelerate sustainable development and improve local living standards, the NA Chairman noted. He used the occasion to inform Vietnam’s Constitution which advocates for a socialist-oriented market economy, social welfare, human rights and citizens’ freedom and democracy. Keeping peace, ensuring national security, protecting the nation’s sovereignty and coping with climate change remain Vietnam’s biggest concerns, the top legislator said, adding that the last is critical to the country’s effective implementation of the SDGs.
* Prior to attending other events at the WB headquarters, NA Chairman Hung and his entourage visited the US National Archives Museum; the American Museum of National History; the hometown of first US President George Washington in Mount Vernon and monuments dedicated to Abraham Lincoln, the US’s 16 th President, and Martin Luther King, a US civil rights activist of African origin./.
