ĐÀ NẴNG — Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc had a meeting with World Bank (WB) Vice President for the East Asia and Pacific Victoria Kwakwa on Tuesday on the sidelines of the ongoing APEC Economic Leaders’ Week in the central city of Đà Nẵng. 
Highlighting the effective cooperation between Việt Nam and the World Bank over the past years, the PM noted that in its Việt Nam 2035 Report released in 2016, the WB gave positive assessments of Việt Nam in finance and other fields. 
Việt Nam always highly valued the position of the WB in international and regional forums, he said. 
Victoria Kwakwa expressed her delight to come back to Việt Nam and continue the lender’s co-operation activities in the country. She also showed her impression of Việt Nam’s economic growth in 2017, making it a destination of foreign investors. 
The year of 2017 marked 20 years of the economic recession in 1997, she noted, saying that she hoped Việt Nam would speed up risk evaluation and financial system restructuring and make new breakthrough in bad debt settlement. The WB is always willing to support Việt Nam in the work as well as the implementation of agenda boosting inclusiveness of the financial system. 
Amidst the high demand of capital for infrastructure development of Việt Nam, the bank hoped to cooperate with the country in mobilising resources through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and building other mechanisms to attract investment from the private sector. 
Việt Nam should introduce major projects to call for investment, she advised, adding that WB could support the country in a number of projects, including the North-South Expressway, Long Thành International Airport, and the upgrade of Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport. 
The WB was also ready to assist Việt Nam in designing strategic solutions to deal with problems in accessing loans and avoid the situation where public debt is likely to hit its ceiling, she declared. 
Lauding Kwakwa’s suggestion, PM Phúc said that Việt Nam had set the public debt ceiling of lower than 65 per cent of the GDP, adding this was a tough goal requiring the country to boost GDP growth and choose to invest in practical important projects. He also stressed the need to apply the PPP model, calling the WB to co-operate in building institutional grounds to improve the effectiveness of the mechanism. 
The PM stressed that the bank’s Country Partnership Framework in the 2017-22 period was important to shape cooperation between Việt Nam and the lender in the next five years, focusing on inclusiveness and encouraging the private sector’s involvement, human resources development, environmental protection and climate change response. 
Highlighting the significance of mitigating climate change impacts, especially in the Mekong Delta region, the Government leader said he hoped the WB would assist Việt Nam in finance and strategic policy consultations in the field. — VNS