Between May 02 - 05, 2023, a delegation from Vietnam headed by SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung attended the 56th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) themed “Rebounding Asia: Recover, Reconnect, and Reform”, which was held in Incheon, the Republic of Korea. The delegation was also comprised of representatives from the relevant entities under the SBV and the Ministry of Finance.
SBV delegation attends the 56th Annual Meeting of the ADB.
According to the ADB’s assessments, Vietnam’s economy had recoverd impressively in 2022, thanks to the significant increases in exports, foreign direct, and the recovery of the domestic consumption. However, due to the impacts of the world economic recessions and the tightening of the monetary policies in developed countries, as well as the spreading effects from the global geopolitical tensions, Vietnam’s economic growth is forecast to slow down slightly to 6.5% in 2023, before bouncing back to 6.8% in 2024.
The 2023 Annual Meeting of the ADB.
Speaking at the Meeting, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung shared information about the positive results that Vietnam has made with the post-COVID socio-economic recovery and development. In the first months of 2023, despite the negative impacts from the fluctuations in the global economy, the SBV had still managed to reduce the key interest rates twice with a total reduction of 0.3 to 1% p.a. in March and April in order to mitigate the difficulties for the economy, the people and the enterprises.
The year 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the ADB’s Vietnam Resident Mission (VRM) and the 30th anniversary of the resumption of the ADB’s operations in Vietnam. Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung shared that Vietnam highly acknowledged the ADB’s support and assistance extended to Vietnam over the past years, especially during the post-COVID recovery process.
The SBV Deputy Governor also expressed high appreciation to the ADB for having formulated its Country Partnership Strategy for Vietnam for the 2023 - 2026 period, with specific solutions in order to implement the focal priorities, namely green economy, climate change responses, enhancement of public services, support to meet the investment needs of the provinces in Vietnam, private sector development. Especially, with regard to the support to the private sector, the ADB has provided assistance to several Vietnamese banks, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the various sectors of clean energy, green traffic, agriculture, clean water, health care, etc.
SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung meets Vice Presidents of the ADB.
Besides, the Vietnamese delegation also had meetings with Mr. Ahmed M.Saed, ADB Vice President for Southeast Asia; Mr. Ashok Lavasa, ADB Vice President for the private sector; Mr. Urjit Pavel, Vice President for the private sector of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); several leaders of the ADB's functional departments; the Executive Director of the Country Group representing Vietnam at the ADB.
At those meetings, the ADB and other partners congratulated Vietnam on the achievements over the past years in maintaining the macroeconomic stability and development, and specially acknowledged Vietnam’s efforts towarding green growth, digital transformation and circular economy development. The ADB’s leaders affirmed that, Vietnam is one of the important partners of the ADB, with a large amount of pledged capital, many investment activities, potential and effective projects.
The ADB side hoped that Vietnam would continue to coordinate closely with the ADB to remove the difficulties during the implementation process, in order to maximize the potentials and the efficiency of cooperation between the two sides.
Also on the side of the Meeting, the Vietnamese delegation had talks with representatives of several development partners in order to exchange about the orientations and the approach of Vietnam, and to call for more preferential financing resources in support of Vietnam’s efforts to achieve its net zero goal, and the commitments under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP); enhancing Vietnam’s resilience and responses to climate change; etc.
Moreover, the SBV Deputy Governor also witnessed and delivered a speech at the signing ceremony for a co-financing assistance provided by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) through the ADB to the technical assistance project on “Expanding inclusive and climate finance” for the SBV, with the objectives of increasing the accessibility to financial services of the people and the enterprises through the development of financial technologies (fintech), and the enhancement of the banking sector’s role in promoting green growth.
LK