Kwakwa made the statement at a February 17 working session with Vietnamese Minister of Finance Vuong Dinh Hue, who asked the WB to increase official development assistance (ODA), including direct assistance to the State budget, for Vietnam to develop its socio-economic infrastructure.

Hue proposed that the WB help the Ministry of Finance (MoF) carry out its project to restructure State-owned enterprises. He highly valued the WB’s research into investment mechanism for local infrastructure and expressed hope that the WB will join MoF in a project to exploit financial resources from land and traffic infrastructure.

Talking about the WB’s ODA projects for Vietnam, Hue affirmed that his ministry will work with other Vietnamese agencies and the WB to speed up the disbursement of the capital for some key projects, especially the Tax Management Project (TAMP) and the School Quality Assurance Programme (SEQAP).

Victoria Kwakwa praised Vietnam’s efforts in its economic restructuring and promised to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance in researching the project to exploit financial resources from land and traffic infrastructure.

She said the WB will also work with the MPI and other related agencies to provide US$250 million in loans for the “economic management to sharpen competition capacity (EMCC)” programme in 2012.