The 15th session of the Vietnam-Russia Banking Cooperation Working Group was held in Phu Quoc, Kien Giang province on August 22 – 23, 2017 under the co-chairmanship of Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and Deputy Governor Dmitry Skobelkin of the Central Bank of Russian Federation (Bank of Russia).
Present at the meeting were representatives of various departments from the two central banks, payment service providers and commercial banks as members of the Working Groups from the two nations.
At the session, the two Deputy Governors highly appreciated bilateral cooperation activities for over one year in the spirit of the previous meeting minutes. Commercial banks from the two countries continued to open agent accounts for the purpose of enhancing bilateral payment, to set credit limit, and to strengthen cooperation in various fields concerning with trade finance, guarantee, documentary credit, and remittances.
Overview of 15th session
Regarding to the enhancement of bilateral payment including payment in domestic currencies, commercial banks of the two countries strictly made surveys and assessed enterprises’ demand, thereby formulating programs and providing service products with competitive conditions for enterprises; to strengthen the task of information and communication and etc.
Over the past time, the two central banks continued to exchange information and research the opportunity for VND-RUB transaction in Moscow Exchange. However, they all acknowledged that they should resolve numerous substances related to legal framework and technical factors through periodical information exchanging and study to effectively implement that cooperative substance.
Highly appreciate the results of bilateral cooperation between the two banking systems in preparing for the implementation of the Project of connecting the card payment systems between Vietnam National Payment Joint Stock Company (NAPAS) and Russian National Payment Card System (NSPK), the two Deputy Governors suggested that NAPAS and NSPK must urgently reach agreement on the technical standards so that the Project can be implemented as soon as possible.
The delegates attending the meeting
Representatives from the two countries also exchanged views on results of cooperation with international financial institutions in which both Vietnam and Russia are members, including the International Investment Bank (IIB) and the International Bank for Economic Co-operation (IBEC); Especially, within framework of the meeting, the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement between BIDV and IBEC could be considered as the basis for promoting further cooperation between the two countries in the coming time.
The two central banks pledged to continue working closely to address the remaining issues in order to facilitate the promotion of bilateral cooperation in the banking sector.
In addition, on behalf of the two central banks’ Management Boards, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and Deputy Governor Dmitry Skobelkin signed a cooperation agreement between the State Bank of Vietnam and the Bank of Russia replacing the existing cooperation agreement (signed in 1998) to update new contents of the bilateral cooperation reflecting the increasingly coherent, comprehensive and substantive relationship between the two central banks.
Vietnam - Russia Working Group was established under framework of the performance of Vietnam - Russia Intergovernmental Committee on economic - trading and scientific - technical cooperation. The Working Group works under the chairmanship of leaders from the two central banks. The board members are representatives of Departments and entities from the two central banks and relating commercial banks. Every year, the Working Group holds annual meeting alternately in the two countries and directly report to the two co-chairmen of Vietnam - Russia Intergovernmental Committee.
LH - VA