WB Chief Pledges Further Support for Vietnam Next Years

The President of the World Bank (WB), Robert Bob Zoellick, has declared that the global lender will continue to offer substantial amounts of financing over the medium term to support Vietnam’s public investment program and reforms. Zoellick also affirmed that as a global ‘Knowledge Bank’, WB can share lessons from other middle income countries, and also share lessons of your success with other countries facing similar challenges”.
“We congratulate Vietnam on its achievements over the past several decades and look forward to a new phase in our partnership to help it reach its full potential,” he elaborated. 
To date, the WB as provided Vietnam with grants, preferential credits and loans worth $13.8 billion to back the country’s development. Vietnam has been recognized as a middle-income country in 2009, with average growth rate in the 2007-2010 period amounting to 6.7%.
Meanwhile, the International Finance Corp. as the World Bank’s financing arm for the private sector has increased its commitments in Vietnam from $62 million in fiscal year 2007 to over $1 billion in fiscal year 2011, including their asset management business.
Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Binh said Vietnam expected the WB to continue to intensify and diversify aid modalities and technical assistance to improve and develop policy and institution, and public debt management.  Vietnam has utilized effectively the WB’s assistance, and in the new period of development, Vietnam commits to cooperate closely with the global lender to achieve the goal set out in the 10-year socio-economic development strategy of transforming Vietnam into a modernized country by 2020, Binh said. WB is now preparing its next Country Partnership Strategy to step up engagement with Vietnam in the next five years to support implementation of the socio-economic development plan 2011-2016. (thesaigontimes.vn Nov 7)