Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged the World Bank to increase its assistance through direct fundings and support programmes so that Vietnam has more resources for reforms and restructure.

PM Dung, in his meeting with WB President Robert B. Zoellick in Washington on April 14, also asked the bank to maintain its preferential loans to help Vietnam overcome the consequences of the global economic downturn.

In addition, Dung asked for the WB’s help to a project on enhancement of scientific-technological capacity in order to cope with adverse impacts from climate change on socio-economic development of several regions in Vietnam .

This is an important issue for Vietnam’s sustainable growth in the coming years, PM Dung said.

He informed the WB president on a plan to organise a meeting reviewing 35 years of cooperation between Vietnam and the WB since 1976.

Vietnam expects a series of concrete measures will be discussed to open a new chapter for bilateral ties during the meeting, PM Dung said.

Vietnam is one of countries implementing appropriate monetary policies, WB President Robert B. Zoellick said, but suggested the country change economic structure for balanced development of industries in the coming decade, preventing high inflation.

The WB leader affirmed his institution’s willingness to help Vietnam’s socio-economic development in the next 10 years, particularly in business governance, public investment, improvement of state-owned enterprises and administrative reform.

He asked the Vietnamese Government to increase supervision of projects and raise disbursement proportion in order to access other lending sources.

He also affirmed backing for Vietnam’s efforts to response to climate change, first of all projects in the sub-Mekong development programme.

Zoellick described the upcoming 35th anniversary of WB-Vietnam cooperation as an opportunity for both sides to review cooperation and discuss measures to raise effectiveness in the coming times.

Also the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received representatives from the US leading groups of Lockheed Martin, Westinghouse and Raytheon./.