On 4th October, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the World Bank and the Da Nang People’s Committee had a meeting to discuss and agree on a cooperation program to implement public finance management reforms. Mr. Huynh Duc Tho – Chairman of the People’s Committee of Da Nang City, Mr. Ousmane Dione – Country Director of the World Bank in Viet Nam, Mr. Hassan Zaman – Region Director of the World Bank and Mr. Marcel Reymond – Head of Economic Cooperation, SECO in Viet Nam attended the meeting.
The Public Finance Management Reform Program (PFMRP) will be implemented in the period of 2019 – 2025 with the budget of 3 million Swiss Francs. This is considered the first cooperation program of SECO and WB in supporting public financial management reform for a local government in Viet Nam.
Overview of the meeting
Accordingly, the program provides advisory and capacity building activities in four key areas of mutual interest: financial strategy; medium-term budgeting and financial planning; public service performance assessment and local government debt management. The program is expected to lay a solid foundation for the broader implementation of public financial management reforms and strengthening cooperation between the parties involved.
Country Director of the World Bank in Viet Nam Ousmane Dione said, “Da Nang is becoming a new growth pole of Viet Nam, with a long-term vision to become an international gateway and increasingly important commercial center in the region. Da Nang is also facing challenges in providing essential urban infrastructure and services with limited resources. This shows the need to mobilize resources, plan and implement effective spending programs within the medium-term framework to ensure long-term fiscal sustainability as well as good management of local government debt.”
The World Bank, Da Nang People's Committee and SECO approved the Joint Statement on Cooperation to Support Da Nang City in Public Administration Reform
Regarding the cooperation to support Da Nang in public administration reform, Mr. Marcel Reymond - Head of Development Cooperation, Embassy of Switzerland in Viet Nam said: “SECO highly appreciates the vision and ambition of Da Nang City in the reform process. The program on supporting the public finance management reform in Da Nang City has a high commitment, based on the results of the program contributing to the change of public financial management policy from the local to the central level”.
Chairman Huynh Duc Tho said, the City Government considers this a strategic cooperation relationship with SECO and WB to provide advisory and capacity building needed for the beneficiaries in the city's priority reform areas. He further informed: “To ensure the effective implementation of the program, a steering committee will be established with the participation of stakeholders to direct and monitor strategic focus areas of the program, discuss progress and solutions to solve problems that may arise during implementation.”
THUY THANH
