HANOI, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday expressed his hope that there will be Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)-sponsored projects in Vietnam in 2017.
Phuc made the remark at a meeting in capital Hanoi with AIIB president Jin Liqun, who is paying a working visit to Vietnam.
According to the Vietnamese prime minister, the State Bank of Vietnam has been assigned to take over obligations and activities of Vietnam in AIIB.
As the country is combining official development assistance (ODA) and commercial loans for infrastructure development, Vietnam sees the opportunity to access preferential capital sources of AIIB at low cost and without government guarantee of great significance, said Phuc.
The country's infrastructure development demand is very big, and the Vietnamese government attaches importance to cooperation with AIIB, Phuc added.
Highlighting the priority that AIIB puts on private sector while encouraging them to invest into infrastructure development, Phuc said Vietnam attaches great importance to luring private investors, including foreign investors.
Against the backdrop of the current Vietnamese public debt, the country expected that in addition to sponsorship to public sector, AIIB will pay attention on encouraging and supporting private sector in infrastructure development in Vietnam, Vietnamese government's e-Portal quoted Phuc as saying.
In the coming time, Vietnam will continue to join AIIB as a reliable and responsible partner, pledging to fully implement all membership obligations and expecting to continue receiving attention of AIIB, said Phuc.
Jin, for his part, highlighted the positive contribution of Vietnam to the founding of AIIB as well as AIIB activities over the past time.
As a fast-growing country rich of potential, Vietnam still needs an important strategy of investing into infrastructure for socio-economic development, said Jin, adding that AIIB will support Vietnam to access capital sources to meet the demand.