President Nguyen Xuan Phuc receives WB Regional Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific Victoria Kwakwa, Hanoi, June 29, 2021.

Hailing Ms. Kwakwa for her dedication to promoting effective cooperation programs between WB and Vietnam, Mr. Phuc affirmed that the Vietnamese State and people always highly value her efforts and contributions in the field. 

The WB has assisted Vietnam not only in poverty reduction but also in the building of mechanisms and strategic infrastructure framework over the past years, thus helping Vietnam make breakthrough strides, which have been welcomed by the WB and international organisations, he said. 

President Phuc thanked the WB for supporting Vietnam’s bid to delay the payment of the International Development Association’s loans in order to have more resources for the fight against COVID-19 and for economic development. He also lauded the WB’s initiatives to assist countries in the COVID-19 fight, including Vietnam.

Ms. Kwakwa congratulated Vietnam on curbing the COVID-19 spread. At the same time, the country also harmoniously combined fiscal and monetary policies to generate strong economic growth, becoming one of a few nations with positive growth in the region and achievements in export, she said.

Underlining the importance of vaccinations, she also committed all possible support to Vietnam to buy vaccines and offer health care to its people.  

Ms. Kwakwa said Vietnam has devised a relatively complete development policy framework, especially regarding the development of key economic zones, digital transformation, inclusive development, climate change response and green growth, which are strategic infrastructure for Vietnam to become an upper middle-income country by 2045. 

The guest also spoke highly of Vietnam’s efforts to realise the climate change response strategy in the Mekong Delta and reduce greenhouse carbon emissions. She suggested Vietnam pay more attention to reducing coal-fired power development and switching to cleaner and greener energy production.