Within the framework of the working visit to Canada, First Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) had meetings with Mr. Peter Lundy, Director General of Global Affairs Canada (GAC), and Mr. Paul Beaudry, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada.
At the meeting with the Director General of GAC, First Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu highly appreciated and expressed his sincere thanks for the support from GAC over the past years in the process of renovating and reforming Vietnam’s banking sector through several effective projects, such as the recent “Strengthening the People’s Credit Funds Network (STEP)” Project.
The system of people’s credit funds in Vietnam, which had been established and operational based on the Canadian model for over 30 years. There are currently over 1,200 funds operating in 57/63 cities and provinces, serving 1.5 million members. The system of people’s credit funds has promoted its role as a channel for providing capital to the people in the rural and remote areas. However, in the new development context, it is necessary to reform the model and the operations of the system of people’s credit funds.
In order to achieve the goal of building a prudent, efficient and highly-connected system of people’s credit funds in the future, the SBV Deputy Governor hoped that GAC would consider providing further support to this process in Vietnam.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu meets Director General of GAC
For his part, Mr. Peter Lundy spoke highly of the cooperative relations between Vietnam and Canada, and took note of the SBV’s requests. He emphasized that Vietnam is an important partner of Canada in ASEAN, and Vietnam’s orientations of reforming the model and the operations of the system of people’s credit funds are in line with the objectives for Canada’s development assistance in Asia-Pacific countries, including Vietnam.
At the meeting with Mr. Paul Beaudry, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu expressed his hope that the meeting would be the beginning for the promotion of the cooperative relations between the two central banks.
The two Deputy Governors agreed that despite the geographical distance, the trade and investment relations between Vietnam and Canada have been continuously increasing over the years.
About the bilateral trade, Vietnam is currently Canada's largest trading partner in ASEAN. The two-way trade turnover between the two countries had increased from USD 1.14 billion in 2010 to USD 7 billion in 2022. Regarding the area of investment, by the end of March 2023, Canada was the 14th largest investor in Vietnam with 244 projects, worth USD 4.8 billion.
In the banking sector, the commercial banks of the two countries have established more than 100 agency relations, thereby helping to facilitate the payment activities and the money transfers between the two countries. As of the end of 2022, the total amount of payments and money transfers between Vietnam and the Canada reached about USD 8.5 billion.
The two Deputy Governors also shared about the results and experience in the monetary policy management, and the maintenance of the macro-economic stability.
Discussing about the future orientations for the cooperation between the two sides, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu proposed that the Bank of Canada consider to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on the bilateral cooperation between the two central banks, thereby creating a framework for the information exchange and experience sharing in the areas of mutual interest, such as the monetary policy management, the macro-economic stability, green finance and digital transformation in the banking sector.
The two Deputy Governors agreed that the enhancement of the cooperation between the two central banks would be the best evidence for the effective cooperation between the two countries on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic ties, and would promote the Comprehensive Partnership between Vietnam and Canada.
Le Hang