Ha Noi (VNA) – Viet Nam hopes the Asian Development Bank (ADB) would strengthen its cooperation and maintain high-level assistance to the country in various fields, particularly infrastructure construction, personnel training and energy.
Both Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung expressed the wish during their February 20 receptions to ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda, who is on a three-day Viet Nam visit beginning February 19.
Party General Secretary Manh reiterated Viet Nam ’s policy to place importance on the cooperation with international financial organisations, including the ADB. He highly appreciated the effective contributions of the bank to the country’s socio-economic development.
“ADB’s assistance has contributed remarkably to the process of poverty reduction, infrastructure development and competitiveness improvement in Viet Nam ,” said the Party leader.
In a separate reception on the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung also lauded the ADB assistance to Viet Nam with its loans counting up to 5 billion USD within five years. For 2008 alone, ADB pledged to provide technical assistance and loans worth between 1.3-1.6 billion USD for the country’s projects in poverty alleviation and infrastructure. The assistance will focus on underway large-scale projects which are of important significance to Viet Nam ’s economic development, such as the Long Thanh-Dau Giay and Ha Noi-Lao Cai Highways.
PM Dung thanked the ADB Viet Nam for its assistance to the building of the Ha Noi-Lang Son Highway and an international-standard university, and poverty reduction projects under the PM’s suggestion during his meeting with ADB President Kuroda on the sidelines of the recent 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore .
For his part, ADB President Kuroda praised the Vietnamese people’s achievements in the national construction cause, saying that he believed Viet Nam will see higher growth in coming years.
He pledged to further assist Viet Nam in its middle and long-term development plans.
The same day, the ADB president had a working session with Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh.