On September 17, 2019 in Vientiane, a Bilateral Meeting of 2019 was held between the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao P.D.R.) under the co-chairmanship of SBV Governor Le Minh Hung and Bank of Lao P.D.R. Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay.
Also attending the Meeting, on the Vietnam’s side, there were Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu and representatives from the International Cooperation Department, the Banking Supervision Agency, the Payment Department, the Monetary Policy Department, the SBV Office, the National Credit Information Center of Vietnam (CIC), the Banking Academy and Ho Chi Minh City Banking University. Mr. Nguyen Ba Hung, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the Lao P.D.R. also attended the Meeting. On the side of the Lao P.D.R., there were Deputy Governor Vathana Dalaloy and representatives from the Departments of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R.
In his opening speech, Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. warmly welcomed the SBV delegation led by Governor Le Minh Hung to visit and work in Laos, and expressed his beliefs that the bilateral Meeting between the two central banks would be successful and achieve the expected results.
For his part, SBV Governor Le Minh Hung expressed his gratitude for the hospitality of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. and emphasized that the annual bilateral meetings have become a good cooperation tradition between the two central banks, as well as the banking industries of the two countries. Governor Le Minh Hung affirmed that the bilateral meeting mechanism would continue to help the two sides enhance their understanding and promote the cooperation.
Governor Le Minh Hung speaks at the Conference
At the Conference, the two sides exchanged their views about the world economic situations, and the results of the monetary policy management, the banking operations and the development trends of the payment services in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. The SBV Governor congratulated on the achievements that Laos has obtained in the socio-economic development, despite the fact that Laos had suffered many negative impacts from the natural disasters and the adverse effects of the world and regional economy. Sharing the results of Vietnam's economic development, and the macro-economic management and the banking sector governance over the past time, the SBV Governor said that in 2018, Vietnam's economic growth reached 7.08%, the highest level in 10 years; the average inflation was at 3.5%, lower than the target of 4% set by the National Assembly. The banking sector has greatly contributed to stabilizing the macro-economy, controlling the inflation, supporting the economic growth, removing difficulties, and supporting businesses and individuals. The implementation of the Plan of restructuring the credit institutions and handling with bad debts has achieved positive results and would continue to be the focus in the coming time.
Assessing the results of the cooperation between the two sides, the two Governors expressed their pleasure at the development and the specific results of the cooperative relations. In addition to the traditional cooperation activities and the ongoing technical assistance programs, Governor Le Minh Hung suggested that the SBV is always willing to develop and implement new technical assistance activities upon the request of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R., thereby contributing to further enhancing the traditional cooperative relations between the two central banks.
Speaking at the end of the Meeting, the two Governors believed that the discussions and exchanges at the Meeting would be useful contributions to the implementation of the professional tasks of both sides, and to the further tightening of the bilateral friendship, traditional cooperation between the SBV and the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. The two Governors required the relevant entities of the two sides to continue to work closely with each other in order to effectively implement the agreed cooperation activities.
Signing ceremony between CIC and Information Technology Department of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R.
On this occasion, Governor Le Minh Hung and Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City Banking University and the Lao Banking Academy; and the Memorandum of Understanding on the cooperation between the CIC and the Information Technology Department of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R.
* Right after the Bilateral Meeting, the two Governors chaired a dialogue with several Vietnamese commercial banks currently operating in Laos (Vietcombank, Vietinbank, BIDV, MB, Sacombank, and SHB).
At the dialogue, representatives of Vietnamese commercial banks presented their reports on the banking performance over the past time and made some recommendations to the two Governors.
Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay of the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. spoke highly of the operations of Vietnamese commercial banks in Laos over the past time. He also took note of all recommendations by Vietnamese commercial banks, and promised to do his best to resolve the issues raised by the banks in the spirit of creating most favorable conditions for the commercial banks to operate effectively in Laos, contributing to further promoting the bilateral cooperation in the banking sector, thereby promoting the trade and investment relations between the two countries.
SBV Governor Le Minh Hung affirmed that Vietnamese commercial banks are committed to long-term investments, and would always comply with the applicable laws of Laos for the sustainable development of the bilateral relations. He expressed his gratitude and hoped that the Lao Government and the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. would continue to support Vietnamese commercial banks to operate effectively in Laos, and looked forward to seeing the two sides continue to promote the potential cooperation in the banking sector in the coming time.
Also on this occasion, the two Governors attended the inauguration ceremony of the new head office of Vietinbank in Laos.
Le Hang