On October 1, 2020, the ASEAN Finance and Central Bank Deputies’ Meeting (AFCDM) was held in virtual format under the co-chairmanship of SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and MOF Vice Minister Tran Xuan Ha at the International Conference Center in Hanoi, in preparation for the sixth ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) scheduled for the following day.
SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and MOF Vice Minister Tran Xuan Ha co-chair the virtual Meeting
Attending the Meeting, in addition to the delegations from the Central Banks, the Monetary Authorities and the Finance Ministries of the 10 ASEAN member countries, there were also representatives of the ASEAN Secretariat and co-Chair of the ASEAN Senior Level Committee on Financial Integration (SLC). The Meeting was composed of three main discussion sessions on (i) ASEAN Financial Integration Process; (ii) Roadmap for Monetary and Financial Integration of ASEAN (RIA-Fin), (iii)I Initiatives under the ASEAN Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers’ Process; and (iii) Update on the results of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting held on July 18-19, 2020.
During the discussion session on the regional and world economic developments, the ASEAN Secretariat gave a presentation on the ASEAN regional situation. The countries all agreed that the situation of Covid-19 in the region and the world has not been fully controlled, and is still developing complicatedly, causing a lot of difficulties for the people and the economies. In that context, the Central Banks and the Finance Ministries in the region have promptly launched multiple financial, monetary and credit packages to mitigate the negative impacts from the pandemic.
Overview of the Meeting
Regarding the initiatives under the ASEAN Central Bank Governors and the Finance Ministers’ Process, on behalf of the co-Chair of SLC, the Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) provided some updates on the progress and the work plan for the 2020-2022 period of the Working Groups within the framework of the ASEAN Monetary - Financial Integration Roadmap. Regarding the banking channel, the Meeting approved five specific items as follows: (i) The Report on the Role of ASEAN Central Banks in Climate and Environmental Risk Management; (ii) The Initiative to develop an ASEAN Set of Principles for Sustainable Banking as proposed by the SBV; (iii) The Terms of Reference and the Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Information Sharing for the operations of the ASEAN Information Sharing and Cyber Security Network; (iv) The Guiding Principles on Local Currency Settlement Framework in ASEAN; and (v) The Code of Conduct for the implementation of the ASEAN Payments Policy Framework applicable to real-time cross-border retail payments, with the accompanying annexes. On this basis, on behalf of the Deputy Governors of the ASEAN Central Banks, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Thi Hong would report the updates on the results of the working groups and the initiatives in the banking sector to the Governors for final approval.
At the end of the Meeting, the Deputy Governors and the Vice Ministers reached consensus on the significance of strengthening the cooperation and mutual assistance in the region to help the member countries overcome the difficulties, contributing to regional economic recovery.
According to the schedule, on the following day (October 2nd, 2020), the 16th ASEAN Central Bank Governors’ Meeting and the 6th ASEAN Central Bank Governors and Finance Ministers’ Joint Meeting would also be held in virtual format at the International Conference Center.
Representatives of the entities of the SBV and the MOF attending the Meeting
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