The Vietnamese Prime Minister affirmed the country’s high regard of the support and assistance that the international community has given to Vietnam and pledged Vietnam would focus on directing and monitoring the use of ODA to further increase its efficiency.

PM Dung highlighted the vital role ODA has played in the country’s socio-economic development since 1993, noting that this source of capital has helped Vietnam immensely in upgrading its socio-economic infrastructure.

ODA capital has also helped Vietnam to achieve results in a wide range of fields, such as health care, education, institutional reform, environmental protection, rural development and, particularly, in poverty reduction, the Prime Minister noted.

He held open discussions with the attendees regarding their issues of concern, speaking at length on the government’s monetary policy and measures to stabilise the macro-economy.

At the meeting, some international donors expressed their worry that Vietnam’s targeted GDP growth of 6.5% for 2009 may be higher than its practical ability.

Shogo Ishii, representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said IMF forecast that global economic growth as a whole and that of Asia will reduce and it will have impacts on Vietnam’s exports and finance.

According to IMF’s forecast, Vietnam’s GDP growth in 2009 may reach 5% compared to 6% in 2008. Inflation may reduce to one-digit number later next year because the prices of goods will be decreasing.

He commented that Vietnam’s mid and long-term economic prospects remain bright on the back of the Vietnamese Government’s pledge to continue implementing reforms.

He suggested that Vietnam speed up structural reforms in banks and businesses, along with promptly addressing any financial issues and strictly monitoring the operation of large State-owned businesses in order to improve its FDI attraction, exports and foreign reserves.

Vietnam should broaden its monetary and financial policies and deal efficiently with any risks or challenges within its economy in order to mitigate the effects of the global economic turmoil, Ishii said.

Meanwhile, Ayumi Konoshi, Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam also said that the planned 6.5% GDP growth for 2009 is high for Vietnam in global economic downturn.

Counsellor of the European Commission (EC) delegation in Vietnam Willy Vandenberg recommended the Vietnamese government to focus on quality of growth and investment.

Increased equitisation will help the government to free up resources for urgently needed infrastructure development and social services in health and education, he stressed. He noted that Vietnam’s economic management has improved a lot and the current challenge is to increase transparency for all economic sectors.

James W. Adams, Vice President of the World Bank (WB), who co-chaired the meeting, said he was pleased to see the Vietnamese Government’s strategies to rein in inflation and stabilise the macro-economy starting to bear fruit.

He also warned Vietnam of the long-term impacts that could affect the nation as a consequence of the global financial crisis. He referred to the need to take action to further assist the poor, as they are the ones suffering the most during this difficult period, as well as the necessity of protecting the environment and reforming institutions to ensure a sustainable growth rate.

The WB official urged the Vietnamese Government to intensify its fight against corruption, while praising Vietnam for having formulated programmes to respond to climate change. On behalf of the donor community, he pledged to willingly help Vietnam in its efforts to overcome these challenges for the sake of the country’s growth.

The ADB representative and the UN Resident Coordinator vowed to provide continuous support to Vietnam’s developmental endeavours.

Speaking to donors, PM Nguyen Tan Dung said if Vietnam can’t maintain macro-economic stability, it would be unable to maintain its growth potential and ensure economic and political stability as well as social security. Therefore, Vietnam’s policy is stabilizing macroeconomics and maintaining growth.

“Economic growth in 2009 is planned to reach 6.5%. I would like to emphasize 6.5% but it means that in favourable conditions, we can gain 6.5% GDP growth but in difficult circumstances, we will try to keep growth of less than 6.5% but not too low to maintain macro-economic stability,” he said.

The PM also confirmed that Vietnam implements a flexible and effective fiscal policy to ensure security for the banking system, support growth potential and prevent the return of inflation.

He wished that Vietnam would continue receiving the great assistance of the community of donors.

“Vietnam honours every penny of ODA and will fulfill its commitments to donors with a high sense of responsibility. The Vietnamese government will exert effort to further improve the effect of ODA use,” he said.

To prevent economic downturn, the Vietnamese PM pointed out five groups of solutions, including: promote production and business, boost exports, encourage investment and consumption, allocate and effectively use capital sourced from the state budget and government bonds, ensure social security, conduct a flexible financial policy, speed up administrative reforms and fight against corruption, improve the forecast and analysis ability. The government will also continue attracting and speeding up disbursement of foreign investment capital and ODA, especially disbursement for infrastructure development, hi-tech, export items of high-value production projects.

The CG Meeting will close in the afternoon of Friday, December 5.

The 2008 CG meeting, themed “Stabilising the economy and maintaining its growth potential”, will discuss the macro-economy’s policies and environment, the implementation of the 2008 plan and the mid-term of the five-year 2006-2010 socio-economic development plan, as well as Vietnam’s implementation of the millennium development goals, administrative reform and the fight against corruption.

The participants will review and assess the implementation of the Paris Statement and the Hanoi Commitment, and the plan of action to implement the Accar Action Plan.

During the two-day CG meeting, they are also expected to debate Vietnam’s socio-economic performance and government policies, procedural compatability and the effectiveness of ODA, public governance and institutional reform, as well as measures to mitigate the effects of climate change.

“CG meetings have become an important forum for the Vietnamese Government and international donors to discuss Vietnam ’s socio-economic development policies and strengthen their cooperation and partnership in an effective manner,” Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc said in his opening speech.

Source: VietNamNet/TTXVN