World Bank President, Robert Zoellick, said Vietnam is a success story that can be applied as a model for other countries to use.

Zoellick, 54, made the remark while being interviewed by Viet Nam News Agency as he visited Hong Ca Commune, Tran Yen District in Yen Bai Province on August 6.

What do you think about your trip to Yen Bai? If projects of the WB are extended in Vietnam, which areas the bank will focus on?

I am very impressed with that I have seen today in Hong Ca because I’ve got an opportunity to see many communes and to see what differences electricity have made in the area, for example, the life of women have been made easier, having TV, having fans, having rice huskers. So I think Vietnam can be very proud of its poverty reduction efforts. WB can be a good partner with Vietnam and others to make life better for people.

This is your first official visit Vietnam in your new post. What have you seen during your trip?

Vietnam is growing very quickly and I am very impressed with the energy and dynamism. Now the success leads to other challenges so one of the things we are talking to government officials is the way WB can help at another level, with social development, with social infrastructure and the base for the private sector.

The Government has set the goal of becoming a middle income country by 2010, we will try to help the government achieve that goal, but this is a great success story and another aspect of the trip is I can see and learn things that we might be able to apply with other countries.

The World Bank in Vietnam has played a critical role in supporting Vietnam in the formulation and implementation of the National Development Strategy. What are your assessments of the cooperation and the way the Vietnamese government has used the bank’s assistance?

This has been excellent, this is the reason why it’s been a tremendous success story that has greatly reduced poverty and also created the basis for growth. Any of you living here have seen the changes over the past 5-10 years we trying to keep that going so Vietnam is one of the major users, if not the biggest user of the IDA fund, international development association grant and concessionary loans, but we want to expand and we may be able to gradually move to other types of WB lending and support from the IFC, the International Financial Corporation which could help with some of the equalisation projects, some of the infrastructure.

Vietnam is the superb partner and its in the area of cause of strengthening the governance, making sure that people stop corruption and again the Government trying to be helpful in those areas, it’s really been a success story.

The government has done a good job, trying to make sure that growth is not only for the cities, but also for the rural areas. So with the communes, we have talked with some of the commune’s leaders they said the priorities for whether they want a bridge or they want health facilities and then WB can work with the Government to try to provide some of the financial support for them.

Based on what you have seen how long would it take Vietnam to become a middle income country and on what areas should Vietnam focus in order to reach that goal?

It is set by per capita income growth, the number you are trying to reach is around 2000 USD, I think it is around 700 USD or a little bit more at the moment so the way to do that is to help all of Vietnam grow, the rural areas, so farmers can add more to the production of the country, some of the financial sector, energy sector, infrastructure, so that is what the government plan is, you may know that the government has some plans to move forward with economic and social goals. This plan is being driven by the Vietnamese government and we are a partner trying to help.

Source: VNA