From January 20 to 22, 2024, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) accompanied Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in his official visit to Romania. This visit is a symbol for the enduring, intensive traditional friendship between Vietnam and Romania over the past 75 years.
The Prime Minister of Romania welcomes the high ranking delegation from Vietnam
Within the framework of the visit, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong attended the meetings between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Prime Minister of Romania, the President of Romania, the President of the Senate of Romania, the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Romania; participated in the Vietnam – Romania Business Forum; visited Romania’s National Institute for Research & Development in Informatics (ICI Bucharest), the Technical University of Civil Engineering of Bucharest, etc.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Ministers and the SBV Governor at the meeting with the Prime Minister of Romania and his delegation
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the high-ranking delegation from Vietnam visit and work with Romanian Chamber of Deputies
At the meeting with ICI Bucharest, sharing the SBV's perspectives of the digital transformation, the SBV Governor affirmed that the digital transformation is an inevitable trend in the development process of each country. For the banking industry, banking operations are the lifeblood of the economy; if the digital transformation of the banking industry is implemented effectively, it will create the driver to promote the digital transformation in other sectors of the economy. Having recognized this matter, Vietnam’s banking industry has actively implemented the Government's policy on digital transformation through the issuance of the Plan for Digital Transformation in the banking sector, the Scheme on Cashless Payment Promotion in Vietnam. Moreover, the SBV has advised the Government on the formulation of the regulatory sandbox for Fintech. The success of the digital transformation depends on the readiness of businesses and the people to apply technology to their production, business and daily activities.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the meeting with ICI Bucharest
In the digital transformation process, safety and security are very important. In Vietnam, this matter receives the attention from both the banking sector and the Ministry of Public Security. In the coming time, the SBV would coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security to organize a conference on safety and security in the banking operations. The SBV Governor expressed her hope that Vietnamese banking industry and ICI Bucharest could strengthen the cooperation in areas which ICI Bucharest has strengths on, such as data centers, the development of cloud computing projects for state agencies, the development of supercomputers, the establishment of a cyber diplomatic center, a mobile data recovery center, a virtual trading floor; pioneering in the development of block chain technologies, etc.
Answering the ICI representative's question about the world's new trend of developing crypto assets, the SBV Governor said that Vietnam is in the process of studying the other countries’ experience in this matter. This is also the task the Government had assigned to a number of Ministries and agencies to consider the orientations of managing crypto assets. As a coordinating agency, the SBV hoped to learn from the ICI Bucharest's experience, especially in the areas that state management agencies need to pay attention to in order to control the risks arising from crypto assets in terms of anti-money laundering.
SBV Governors and Vietnamese Ministers at the meeting with Romanian partners
At the Vietnam - Romania Business Forum, the participants discussed about the opportunities for the investment cooperation to further strengthen the trade and investment relations between Vietnam and Romania.
Representing Vietnamese commercial banks at the Forum, a leader of Vietcombank delivered a presentation about the main features of Vietnam's economy, the trends and opportunities for foreign investors. Especially, Vietnamese commercial banks have continuously and proactively improved their management and governance, gradually meeting the highest international standards. Also, Vietnamese banks always stand ready to provide the best banking services for foreign investors in Vietnam. The Vietcombank representative affirmed that with a stable macro-economic environment, Vietnamese commercial banks, under the SBV’s leadership, would promote their roles as bridges for the trade activities between the two countries, contributing to promoting the economic cooperation between Vietnam and Romania in the coming time.
A representative of Vietcombank speaks at the Forum
On January 22, 2024, the Prime Minister and the high ranking delegation from Vietnam successfully concluded their official visit to Romania. This was also the final destination in the series of events on the occasion of their attendance at WEF 2024 in Davos and official visits to Hungary and Romania.
Le Hang