Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung expressed his hope while receiving the Managing Director of the World Bank, Juann Jose Daboub, iin Khanh Hoa province on April 8.

He thanked the WB for providing valuable financial and technical assistance to Vietnam’s economic restructuring, equitisation of State-owned enterprises, lawmaking, poverty reduction, education reform, healthcare development and personnel training.  

Mr Hung said Vietnam has bottomed out from the economic downturn and is on the track to recovery. It has kept runaway inflation under control and is restructuring its macro economy. The country is consulting financial and monetary institutions to formulate its five-year economic development plan to be submitted to the upcoming National Party Congress slated for January 2011.

Currently, he said, Vietnam has 500,000 businesses and it aims to increase the figure to 1 million in the near future to address employment issues, especially in rural areas.

Vietnam wants to speed up poverty reduction and narrow the development gap between rich and poor to create a consensus in society, said Mr Hung.

Juann Jose Daboub voiced his support for Vietnam’s development programmes and promised to help the country meet its development goals. He confirmed that as a good partner for Vietnam, the WB put forward specific recommendations and provides effective financial aid to the country.