Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Vuong DinhHue held talks in Hanoi on September 23 with Senior Vice President and chiefeconomist of the World Bank Pinelopi Koujianou Goldberg, who is in Vietnam toattend the Vietnam Reform and Development Forum 2019.

The Deputy PM thanked the guest for promoting partnershipwith Vietnam and supporting its macro-economic development policies.

Apart from policy consultation, the WB has provided Vietnamwith official development assistance and preferential loans worth nearly 24billion USD, about 18 billion USD of which have been disbursed.

He expressed wish to discuss with Goldberg about the strategicpartnership between Vietnam and the WB, priorities in socio-economicdevelopment strategy for the 2021 – 2025 period, the impact of the globaleconomy on Vietnam, especially amid the current US – China trade tension.

As the size of the Vietnamese economy is small, and its involvementin the global economy is limited, it is necessary to improve competitivenessand move up in the global value chain, he said, adding that he wished to listento the WB’s forecasts on the issue and acquire suggestions to help Vietnamesefirms join the global value chain more deeply.

The host also sought the lender’s recommendations to issuesregarding agriculture, rural development and farmers, urban and regionaleconomic development, and regional economic coordination.

Goldberg, for her part, suggested that Vietnam should exportprocessed and high-value products as well as focus on technological innovationin order to further join the global value chain.

Another important point is reforming tertiary education and vocationaltraining, with a focus on training soft skills for students and workers.

Both sides also looked into opportunities and challengesarising from the Fourth Industrial Revolution, policies to facilitate theprivate sector’s involvement in sci-tech development, and improving workers’income./.