Vietnam hopes to receive more assistance in terms of capital, experience and policy consultations from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in restructuring state-owned enterprises (SOEs), said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh. Mr. Ninh made the statement at a meeting with ADB Director in Vietnam Tomoyuki Kimura in Hanoi recently. He also stressed that SOEs have to be operating in line with the market. Mechanisms and policies will be amended to align with international practices and adapt to new circumstances. Vietnam has already designed development strategies for the next five and ten years which chiefly focus on boosting sustainable growth, social welfare, new growth models and better investment climate. The ongoing projects financed by ADB would definitely contribute to the restructuring process and the shifting of growth model in Vietnam, Mr. Ninh added. For his part, Mr. Kimura underlined his institution’s commitment to supporting the economic restructuring, especially the restructuring of SOEs, in Vietnam. ADB has passed the country’s partnership strategy for the 2012-2015 period, which focuses on the restructuring of SOEs. Earlier, Minister of Finance Vuong Dinh Hue said that ADB will provide $600 million worth of loans to Vietnam to help the country restructure some state groups and corporations. Restructuring SOEs is likely to be very expensive for Vietnam; but experts deem the process indispensable in raising transparency and competitiveness in the economy. (chinhphu.vn Oct 17)
