President Truong Tan Sang has obtained pledges of continued assistancefrom the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) topexecutives during his separate meetings with them in Washington DC onJuly 24 as part of his ongoing visit to the US.
He suggestedthe WB continue providing Vietnam with official development assistance(ODA) and assistance to its infrastructure development projects whileproposing the IMF to increase policy consultancies and back Vietnam’seconomic restructuring and growth model transformation process.
WB Group President Jim Yong Kim and IMF Managing Director ChristineLagarder shared their belief that by pursuing the current comprehensivemeasures it has adopted Vietnam will weather macroeconomic challenges.
Later on the day, the President attended a reception hosted byUS companies where he stated that Vietnam attaches much importance tothe Trans-Pacific Partnership talks and determines to work together withthe US and others to wrap it up by the end of this year.
Hetold the businessmen that in 2013, Vietnam has, for the first time,simultaneously conducted talks on free trade agreement (FTA) with allleading economic centres in the globe, aimed at creating interest basesfor equal, long lasting, constructive and mutually beneficiarypartnerships to be established.
The President expressed hisbelief that when all 14 FTAs are completed during 2015-2020, Vietnamwill become an important link connecting with 55 trade partners aroundthe world, 15 of which are G20 members.
As the US has growninto the top trade partner and the seven biggest investor of Vietnamtoday, President Sang, therefore, called upon US investors to broadenoperation and run long-term business in Vietnam, particularly in hightechnology, energy, manufacturing, environment, information technology,agriculture modernisation, and human resource development.
“All measures will be deployed drastically to ensure Vietnam is anattractive destination where investors’ efficient business is secured,”President Sang said.-VNA