On the afternoon of October 7, 2019 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu had a meeting with the delegation of the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) led by Mr. Donald Kanak, Chairman of the EU-ABC.
On behalf of the SBV Board of Management, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu welcomed Mr. Donald Kanak and the delegation of the EU-ABC to visit Vietnam and work with the SBV. The SBV Deputy Governor hoped that Mr. Donald Kanak and the delegation had got fruitful meetings with the ASEAN Governments as well as the relevant authorities of Vietnam. This visit of the delegation would help to further enhance the mutual understandings, as well as opportunities for expanding and developing the relations between the EU enterprises and the governments of the ASEAN countries in general and Vietnam in particular.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu shared that the SBV always has very high appreciation for the EU-ABC role in promoting the development of trade and investment relations between the EU and ASEAN through dialogues about policy-making with the management agencies, supporting EU enterprises to invest and prosper in ASEAN, thereby contributing to bringing benefits to not only the EU enterprises but also the ASEAN economies, including Vietnam. He also stated that the EU enterprises have always been very active investors in Vietnam. The EU is currently the second largest export partner of Vietnam. Especially, the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the EU-Vietnam Investment Protection Agreement (EVIPA) would create favorable legal frameworks for the enhancement of trade and investment between the two sides in the coming time.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu speaks at the meeting
The SBV Deputy Governor shared that based on the rotation mechanism, Vietnam would be Chair of ASEAN in 2020. Accordingly, the SBV and the Ministry of Finance would co-chair the process of financial and monetary cooperation in ASEAN in 2020. Up to now, the two agencies have jointly submitted to the Prime Minister a Plan for deploying cooperative events in the finance and banking sector in ASEAN 2020. At the same time, the SBV and the Ministry of Finance have been in the process of formulating priority cooperation topics to further promote the ASEAN financial and monetary cooperation, such as financial inclusion, Fintech, environmental issues (green economic development, green credit), etc. In the coming time, upon receiving the approval from the Prime Minister, the SBV would inform the EU-ABC the priority cooperation contents in the field of finance and banking for the two sides to exploit and promote the implementation.
Regarding the ASEAN Central Bank Governors’ Meeting and ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting, as the host of the ASEAN 2020, the SBV hopes that the EU-ABC would suggest relevant policies for the ASEAN region for further developing the regional finance and banking sectors and enhancing the investment and trade relations between the EU and ASEAN. In addition, the SBV's Board of Management also expects that the EU-ABC would make recommendations to support ASEAN countries to realize the cooperation priorities for the ASEAN 2020.
For his part, Chairman Donald Kanak of the EU-ABC thanked Deputy Governor Dao Minh for his hospitality. According to Mr. Donald Kanak, this is the largest delegation of businesses of the EU-ABC to Vietnam (composed of representatives of 26 EU companies from various sectors) to learn about Vietnam’s business environment. Expressing his impressions with the development of Vietnam in the recent years, the EU-ABC Chairman affirmed that it was the result of the right policies and good governance of the Government of Vietnam. At the same time, he was optimistic about the business prospects of the European businesses in Vietnam as well as in ASEAN. EU businesses consider ASEAN in general and Vietnam in particular as a potential investment region, especially when Vietnam and the EU have just signed two important Agreements, namely the EVFTA and the EVIPA. Emphasizing that Vietnam would take the Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2020, he said the EU-ABC as well as EU businesses are ready to share with and support Vietnam to fulfill its role next year, and expressed hopes that Vietnam would continue to create favorable conditions for foreign businesses to invest in the country.
Chairman Donald Kanak of the EU-ABC speaks at the meeting
Expressing his thanks for the sharings of the EU-ABC Chairman about the desire for long-term cooperation with Vietnam and the SBV, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu emphasized that in Vietnam, banking operations in 2018 and 2019 have been strongly transformed, not only recovering the profitabilities but also making new records. Besides, with a consistent monetary policy aiming to stabilize the interest rates, credit growth, contribute to the macroeconomic stability and a reasonable economic growth, the banking industry has very attractive potentials for long-term growths.
In this context, many foreign investors have expressed their interest and hopes to participate in the finance and banking sector. The Government of Vietnam has determined that this is a good opportunity for Vietnamese banks to learn, apply international practices in the management, administration and application of modern technologies to banking operations. Especially, with the drastic implementation of the Scheme on restructuring the banking sector in association with NPL resolution for the 2016-2020 period by Vietnamese credit institutions, the participation of foreign financial institutions, and foreign investors in this process has been strongly encouraged. This is also the message that the SBV wants the EU-ABC to convey to the investors’ community in the EU in particular and in Europe in general.
Le Hang