On April 27, 2023, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha had a meeting with Mr. Jean Denis Pesme, Global Director for Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation at the World Bank (WB), and other members of the WB mission.
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha welcomed Mr. Jean Denis Pesme to visit and work with the SBV. The Deputy Governor informed that, within the framework of the IMF/WBG 2023 Spring Meetings, the Vietnamese delegation had meetings with Mrs. Manuela V. Ferro, WB Vice President; Mr. Riccardo Puliti, IFC Vice President; Mr. Hassan Zaman, the WB’s Regional Director for East Asia and Pacific, Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions; Mr. Wempi Saputra, Executive Director of the WB Group Office for East Asia and the Pacific Region, to exchange about the cooperative activities being implemented by the two sides, as well as to propose possible solutions to consolidate and promote further the partnership between the two sides in the new context.
The SBV Deputy Governor shared that, the Government of Vietnam always highly acknowledges the WB’s role and support during the economic reforms and development of Vietnam over the past 30 years. In the next stage, it is a priority of the Government, the Ministries and local authorities to further consolidate and promote the relationship between the two sides, especially in the context that Vietnam still needs assistance resources from the international financial institutions, including the WB, in order to implement the economic recovery and development programs, and to respond to the impacts of climate change, as well as to improve the national economy’s resilience against the unpredictable fluctuations and risks of the world economy.
SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha speaks at the meeting.
Exchanging about the WB’s support for banking and finance sector in general and for the SBV in particular, the Deputy Governor thanked the WB for having shared the international experience, and for the policy analyses and reviews over the past years, which have provided the SBV with good references during the processes of reviewing and revising the relevant laws (the Law on Anti-Money Laundering, the Law on Credit Institutions, etc.), as well as for helping the National Assembly and the Government of Vietnam to understand about the international best practices, and thereby enabling Vietnam to select the means and models that are most suitable to the national situation and context.
On behalf of the WB, Mr. Jean Denis Pesme affirmed that the WB is always ready to accompany and support Vietnam in the long future. He also informed that the WB had finalized the procedures for an extension of the Project “Vietnam: Strengthening Banking Sector Soundness and Development” in order to continue the support to the SBV and the banking sector in the implementation of the banking and finance reforms, and to achieve the objectives as set out in the Project.
(This is an important project of the banking sector, which is expected to support the SBV in the implementation of the Scheme on restructuring the system of credit institutions in association with bad debt resolution between 2016 to 2020 and the next period; addressing the shortcomings and structural limitations in the banking system; heading towards meeting the international standards; contributing to maintaining the macro economic and financial stability).
Mr. Jean Denis Pesme, WB Global Director for Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation, speaks at the meeting.
At the meeting, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha and Mr. Jean Denis Pesme also talked on other topics, such as green finance, digital transformation and financial stability. The SBV Deputy Governor proposed that the WB continue to support the SBV through providing its policy advice, training, capacity building, etc. in the fields of payment, digital transformation, green growth and financial stability.
Toward the end of the meeting, the Deputy Governor wished Mr. Jean Denis Pesme a successful mission in Vietnam, which would help to strengthen and deepen the long-term cooperative relationship between the WB and Vietnam in general, and between the WB and the SBV in particular.
LK