On May 2-5, 2024, a Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) attended the 57th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Joining the Vietnamese delegation, there were representatives of the SBV relevant entities, the Ministry of Finance, and leaders of a number of commercial banks.
SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu attends the ADB’s 57th Annual Meeting
The key messages of the Meeting
The ADB's 57th Annual Meeting was held in the context that the outlooks of the economies in Asia and the Pacific are continuing to improve, despite of many uncertainties from the external environment. Speaking at the plenary session opening the Meeting, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze shared that the activities within the framework of the Meeting would center on the theme of "Bridge to the Future". The host country Georgia had brought to the Meeting the message of connection by the image of a country with a geographical location as a bridge between Europe and Asia, a cultural intersection where East meets West.
The Asia Development Foundation (ADF) will focus its support on four main areas: (i) Supporting vulnerable small island developing states (SIDS), especially in the face of climate change; (ii) Implementing transformational programs on climate change adaptation, natural disaster risk reduction, gender equality promotion, regional cooperation and integration; (iii) Responding to disasters and medical emergencies, and (iv) Providing crisis support to people in certain countries to meet their basic needs. This support has special significance on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the ADF.
ADB’s President Masatsugu Asakawa delivers an opening speech at the ADB’s 57th Annual Meeting
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu takes a picture together with the Georgian Prime Minister, the ADB’s President, and the Heads of Delegations of the member countries
Speaking at the Meeting and in the related events, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu highly complimented the ADB's transformation process and its efforts to become a Regional Climate Bank. The SBV Deputy Governor suggested that the ADB consider the possibility to use its resources to provide practical support on a sufficient scale, and continue to find other co-financing sources for climate activities. With its experience in green investment, the ADB should establish a clear linkage between the incentives and preferential mechanisms with measurable outcomes, as well as the possibilities of recovery if those outcomes are not achieved. In that context, the ADB needs to actively organize regional forums to discuss diversified impacts on the economies, and to share experience in the policy options, as well as to promote the regional cooperation mechanisms to enhance regional resilience.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu in bilateral discussions with the ADB’s Vice President, and with partner countries
On the sidelines of the official sessions at the Meeting, the Vietnamese delegation had a number of meetings with Mr. Scott Morris, the ADB’s Vice President for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific; Mr. Sangmin Ryu, the ADB’s Executive Director for the country group including Vietnam; Mr. Winfried Wicklein, Director General for Southeast Asia; Ms. Suzanne Gaboury, Director General of the Private Sector Operations Department; the ADB’s Country Director for Vietnam; as well as other leaders of the ADB's functional Departments, etc.
At the above meetings, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu thanked for the ADB's companionship with the Government of Vietnam over the past 30 years, and affirmed that the Government of Vietnam always considers the ADB one of the most important and reliable partners, with a total financing capital up to 18 billion USD for about 600 programs and projects (since the time the two sides resumed the partnership in 1993). The achievements in the socio-economic development of Vietnam have been made with significant support and contributions from the ADB, which has brought about positive changes, helping to realize the priorities of the Government in education, healthcare, transportation, energy and urban infrastructure, making important contributions to Vietnam's achievements in its process of renovation, international integration, and sustainable development.
The SBV Deputy Governor expressed the appreciation for the ADB's efforts in mobilizing 2.1 billion USD to support Vietnam’s implementation of its commitments through the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), as well as the national energy transition process. Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu further affirmed that the SBV strongly supported the ADB's initiative to attract about 1 billion USD for the private sector investment in the 2023-2026 period, thereby developing the private sector to become an important pillar of the economy.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu has a bilateral meeting with the ADB’s Vice President
Mr. Dao Minh Tu also affirmed that the ADB's Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) has many similarities with Vietnam's Socio-Economic Development Strategy by 2030, vision to 2045, such as: developing a green, circular and sustainable economy, promotion of the private sector development. The SBV Deputy Governor highly appreciated the ADB's technical support for the banking sector and hoped that the ADB would continue to provide more technical support to improve the legal frameworks for the green development, and to create favorable conditions for the green projects to access investment capital. In addition, in the coming time, the Deputy Governor proposed that the ADB continue to have more preferential policies and mobilize more funding sources with more reasonable costs; prioritize the capital resources for the green projects, projects with high scalability, etc.
The SBV Deputy Governor acknowledged the ADB's proposals and confirmed that the SBV would continue to coordinate with the Ministries and agencies to propose appropriate solutions to the Government to create an open and transparent legal corridor for these important capital channels. The SBV would also continue to closely coordinate with the ADB and other financial institutions, such as the World Bank (WB), the Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB), to resolve all relevant issues at an early stage.
SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu and Mr. Choi Sang-mok, Korean Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Economy and Finance, take a photo together
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu also had a meeting with Mr. Sangmin Ryu, the ADB’s Executive Director for Vietnam, to discuss about the status of the ADB-supported projects in Vietnam. In addition, the Vietnamese delegation also had meetings with several partner countries. In these meeting, the partner countries highly acknowledged Vietnam's active participation in the ADB’s 57th Annual Meeting, and expressed their willingness to cooperate with the SBV to lift the bilateral relationship in the banking sector in the future.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu has a brief exchange with the ADB’s Executive Director for Korea, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Chinese Taipei, China, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, and Vietnam
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu and Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Lao P.D.R. take a photo together
The ADB's 57th Annual Meeting ended successfully. The Heads of Delegations all expressed their gratitude to the host country Georgia for the hospitable and warm welcome. According to the plan, the ADB’s 58th Annual Meeting will be organized in Milan, Italy.
HY