In the morning of February 12th, 2019, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of the Pig, according to the tradition for the Lunar New Year in Vietnam, on behalf of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) Board of Management, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh had a working visit to the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) Office in Vietnam.
Also attending this first meeting of the Spring in the Year of the Pig at the SECO Office were Mr. To Huy Vu, Director General of International Cooperation Department, Mr. Dang Van Toi, Deputy Chief of the SBV Office, and other SBV officials.
On the side of SECO Office, there were Mr. David Best – Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam, Mr. Marcel Reymond - Chief Representative of SECO, Mr. Jonas Grunder - Deputy Chief Representative and other SECO staff.
At the meeting, SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh thanked SECO for supporting Vietnam’s banking system in general and the SBV in particular. Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh emphasized that the SBV considers the Swiss banking system to be a model for the Vietnamese banking system, and also thanked SECO for having always accompanied and supported the SBV within the 2015-2017 Commercial Bank Directors Training Program, which aims at strengthening the capacity of the SBV’s and Vietnamese commercial banks’ officials over the years. This is a very practical and effective program for Vietnam's banking system. Therefore, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh expected SECO to continue to support the SBV in its efforts to improve the capacity of the leaders of the SBV and the commercial banks in the coming time.
At the same time, the Deputy Governor also expressed his gratitude for SECO’s fund extended to the SBV through a WB Trust Fund to implement the Project of "Strengthening the development and health of banking sector in Vietnam" and believed that with the determination of the SBV, this project will be successfully implemented and will help the banking system to develop healthily and stably. In the coming time, the SBV also wishes that SECO continues to support the development of mechanisms, policies and the training for the SBV's officer on lending activities in line with the value chains through the "Supply Chain Financing” (SCF) Program. This is a highly practical project for the commercial banking system in Vietnam.
On behalf of SECO, Mr. David Best - Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Switzerland in Vietnam, expressed his deep gratitude for the interest of the SBV leaders, and the close coordination of the SBV’s International Cooperation Department with SECO in 2018. This is the first time SECO had the honor to welcome a senior leader of the SBV to visit during the Tet holiday. On this occasion, Mr. Best conveyed the Lunar New Year’s greetings to the SBV Deputy Governor, and reported to the Deputy Governor on the successes that SECO achieved in the last year. Specifically, in 2018, SECO provided a non-refundable grant to the SBV to implement the Project of "Strengthening the development and health of the banking sector in Vietnam" with a total value of 7.2 million USD, the largest ever non-refundable grant provided by SECO to Vietnam. SECO is committed to continuing its mission in Vietnam, further supporting the overall economic development of the country, contributing to achieving the common goal of SECO. In the coming time, SECO will continue to work closely with the SBV to support the SBV in the priority areas of the Government, especially for the healthy development of the banking sector, handling with bad debts and restructuring of the banking system; support lendings for the supply chains, especially support for the agricultural sector in Vietnam. In addition, Mr. Marcel Reymond - Chief Representative of SECO also wished to continue to cooperate effectively with the SBV on the above- mentioned Technical Assistance project and expected the SBV to finalize soon the domestic approval procedures to sign the Technical Assistance Agreement and implement the Project in the 2nd Quarter of 2019. Mr. Reymond also expected the SBV to achieve remarkable results from the activities of this Technical Assistance project in the near future, as a basis for SECO to continue to mobilize more resources and expand its cooperation with Vietnam in general, and the SBV in particular in the next period.
On the occasion of the new Spring, Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh conveyed his best wishes for health and successes to all of the SECO staff, and hoped that SECO would continue to work closely with the SBV and always accompany Vietnam’s banking sector to fulfill the set- out objectives for the coming years.
VA