Many partners and donors at the ongoing Consultative Group meeting in Hanoi expressed their commitment to continue assisting Vietnam in its sustainable development.

United Nations Resident Coordinator John Hendra affirmed the UN was ready to support Vietnam to meet the vision set out in the draft Socio-Economic Development Strategy (SEDS) and the Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) for 2011-2020, ensuring that all Vietnamese people can benefit fully from the country’s continued progress.

Masat Miyazaki, Division chief of the International Monetary Fund’s Asia and Pacific Department, stressed his institution’s continued commitment to providing Vietnam with sincere advice and support in the future.

As largest provider of aid and its second largest investor and trading partner, a representative from the European Union in Vietnam said that the EU will remain, throughout both the challenges and the successes, a firm and committed partner of Vietnam in its economic, social and political progress.

In addition, representatives from international organisations gave important recommendations to Vietnam .

As recognised in the draft SEDP and SEDS, economic growth was necessary, but not sufficient to achieve balanced and inclusive development, John Hendra said.

“It is crucial that Vietnam not repeat the mistakes of other countries, including those which have wrongly sacrificed their natural resources due to a single-minded focus on growth. Instead, Vietnam should aspire to join the group of countries that have opted for a green growth model and are creating a clean, low-carbon economy,” he said.

Miyazaki said Vietnam needs to give priority to addressing emerging risks to its macroeconomic stability, further tighten monetary policy and lower its public debt-to-GDP ratio.

“Further reforms are needed to safeguard a financial system that is robust, efficient, and market-based,” he said.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Michalak applauded the Government’s priorities for “breakthrough” socio-economic progress, including improving infrastructure, human resources, and market-oriented mechanisms.

Reform of the state sector is essential to improved productivity and efficiency of investment, he said.

In 2010, the US spent over 184 million USD on economic reform, education, health and support for vulnerable groups, the the ambassador said.

Sharing the view, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Tanizaki Yasuaki said that mobilising capital from the private sector was a vital element for development and the Vietnamese Government needed to realise the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

He stressed Japan ’s readiness to assist Vietnam in the PPP field./.