On November 5, 2019 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a meeting with Ms. Stephanie von Friedeburg, Chief Operating Officer of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Also attending the meeting, on the SBV’s side, there were representatives from the Monetary Policy Department, the Foreign Exchange Management Department, the Department of Legal Affairs, the International Cooperation Department, the Banking Supervision Agency and the SBV Office. On the IFC’s side, there were Mr. Vivek Pathak, IFC's Director for East Asia and the Pacific; Mr. Kyle Kelhofe, IFC's Country Manager for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos; and Mr. Ousmane Dione, World Bank Country Director for Vietnam.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong welcomed Ms. Stephanie von Friedeburg for her first visit to Vietnam as the IFC’s Chief Operating Officer. The SBV Deputy Governor shared that the Government of Vietnam always acknowledged the key role of the private sector in the economic development, having contributed greatly to Vietnam’s economy. Over the past time, the business environment in Vietnam has been improved remarkably; the business community has been benefiting from the administrative reform through reduced conditions of business and investment, simplification of administrative procedures and policies on supporting enterprises to develop. The wave of start-ups has mobilized the needed capital for the economy. She also said that the Government of Vietnam highly appreciated the IFC’s support extended to Vietnam over the past time, focusing on developing the private sector through the policy consultancy, financial support, human resources development, market promotion and development, etc. She expressed her hope that the IFC would continue to support Vietnam in the coming time.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong talks with Ms. Stephanie von Friedeburg, IFC’s Chief Operating Officer
In addition, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong also shared that the SBV was assigned to formulate a National Financial Inclusion Strategy, thereby accelerating the people’s accessibility to financial services, especially for SMEs, poor households, women and ethnic minority people, etc. Therefore, the SBV hopes that the IFC would share its experience in implementing financial inclusion strategies in other countries with Vietnam. Especially, as the Chairwoman of the Board for the Advancement of Women in the banking sector, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong emphasized the necessity of a forum/dialogue to help women leaders in the finance and banking sector to share with and learn experience from each other, as well as to be better enabled to accomplish their leardership roles.
For her part, the IFC’s Chief Operating Officer thanked Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong for her hospitality, and expressed her gratitude to the SBV Management Board for having supported the IFC’s investment activities in Vietnam. She congratulated the SBV on its successes with the monetary policy management over the past time, which have contributed to the macro-economic development with encouraging results.
She said that the IFC would always be willing to support the Government of Vietnam in general and the SBV in particular with the formulation and implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy; especially with regard to the SMEs development and gender equality. Currently, the IFC is carrying out the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) in many countries, so the IFC’s Chief Operating Officer committed to closely coordinate with the SBV to implement this Initiative in Vietnam upon the request of the SBV Deputy Governor.
Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong takes a photo with Ms. Stephanie von Friedeburg and the IFC’s Mission
On behalf of the SBV Management Board, Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong thanked the IFC for the technical assistance provided to Vietnam. With the huge demand for technical assistance from the SBV's entities, the SBV Deputy Governor hoped that in the coming time, the IFC would continue to provide further support, as well as call for funds from other international organizations to contribute to strengthening and improving the operational performance of the SBV’s entities in particular and the banking system in general.
Le Hang