Within the framework of the working program at the headquarters of the World Bank, General Director of Vietnam Social Insurance Nguyen The Manh had a courtesy meeting with Ms. Victoria Kwakwa, World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific.

During her tenure as World Bank Country Director for Vietnam (2009 – 2016), Ms. Kwakwa made important contributions to the development of Vietnam Social Security (VSS). Under her guidance, the World Bank has supported Vietnam's social security industry in many areas from restructuring business processes, applying IT; administrative reform; building and completing the model of calculating the fund balance; researching and developing an integrated electronic card system; training, technology transfer on financial management, fund investment management.

At the meeting, General Director Nguyen The Manh shared and updated the achievements of the VSS in the recent period and expressed his wish to continue receiving financial, technical and technological support, as well as international experience from the WB to further improve and enhance the quality and effectiveness of the implementation of social and health insurance policies in Vietnam.

The working session of General Director Nguyen The Manh and World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific, Ms. Victoria Kwakwa

Within the framework of the program, the delegation of VSS also worked with the Treasury and Retirement Department of the World Bank, chaired by Mr. Jorge Familiar - Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank. The meeting also had the participation of Ms. Carolyn Turk - World Bank Country Director for Vietnam, Mr. Heung Sik Choo - Chief Investment Advisor, Mr. Bernard Murira - Lead Financial Officer for the World Bank Treasury together with senior experts from the World Bank's Reserve Advisory & Management Partnership (RAMP) and leaders of some units of VSS.

At the meeting, General Director of VSS Nguyen The Manh introduced an overview of the management, use and investment of funds of the VSS. Manh emphasized that in recent years, the investment in social insurance funds has been carried out safely, effectively and in accordance with regulations by the VSS, with a focus on safe and low-risk investment forms. Currently, the Social Insurance Fund has become the leading public financial fund in Vietnam, actively contributing to the development and ensuring the social security of the country.

However, with the current context of population aging and the increasing need to ensure social security, in order to meet the responsibility of paying current and future regimes for participants and realize the spirit of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee on reforming social insurance policies, it is especially necessary to ensure a stable, balanced and sustainable social insurance fund.

The delegation gave opinions and exchanged ideas towards the implementation of the above goals, such as proposing activities to improve the investment capacity of social insurance funds, training in financial analysis and portfolio management skills, building calculation models, forecast fund balance for staff of the VSS; methods to ensure sustainable financial viability (professional investment organization, portfolio restructuring and investment strategy development, legal framework completion, etc.) in order to ensure financial sustainability and benefits for participants of social, health and unemployment insurance.

According to Mr. Jorge Familiar, Vice President of the World Bank, the VSS has a non-diversified form of fund investment, focusing mainly on the Government bond channel. Although it ensures a high safety factor, it will pose great challenges for the implementation of social insurance policies in Vietnam in the coming time, especially the ability to pay participants in the context of the aging population, decreasing fertility rates, and increasing life expectancy at birth and life expectancy after retirement.

General Director of VSS and Mr. Jorge Familiar - Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank

The World Bank experts agreed with the goals and tasks set out in the spirit of Resolution No. 28-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee on reforming social insurance policies and assessed that Vietnam was on the right track towards the goal of reforming the investment management of the social insurance fund with the motto "Diversify the portfolio, structure the investment of the social insurance fund according to the principles of safety, sustainability and efficiency; prioritize investment in Government bonds, especially long-term Government bonds; research to gradually expand into highly profitable fields; step by step and have a roadmap to invest part of the Fund's idle money through investment trusts in domestic and international markets". The WB also stated that in order to meet the future needs of retirement and social security, the social insurance fund must be managed, utilized and invested more effectively.

Within the framework of the program, the WB also introduced the WB's Program on Reserve Advisory & Management Partnership exclusively for state banks, sovereign funds, public pension funds and international financial institutions. The program is conducted on a non-profit basis and provides high-quality consulting services, networking and contacts, asset investment support according to World Bank capital management standards, and also provides intensive training budget for public pension funds, state banks and sovereign funds. At the same time, the WB also introduced and proposed VSS to participate in the World Bank's latest training program on public financial asset management for staff of public pension funds, state banks, sovereign funds. The program will provide scholarships for students to participate in an 8-month training course including 4 months of theoretical training and 4 months of internship at leading wealth management organizations in the world.

General Director Nguyen The Manh thanked the World Bank for sharing and expressed his hope that the two sides can implement specific cooperation activities in the near future. Mr. Jorge Familiar agreed with the comments and suggestions from the VSS and said that the WB is ready to support the VSS in offering consultations and international experiences in the field of fund investment for VSS's reference, step by step improving the efficiency of fund investment activities, especially in diversifying investment portfolios, risk management and capacity building of staff.