On June 13, 2018, at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu had a meeting with Development international Desjardins (DID) on the Project of Strengthening the People’s Credit Funds network (STEP), which finances the Co-operative Bank of Vietnam (Co-op Bank)
Attending the meeting from the Canadian side there were Mr. Martin Ruel, Program Senior Director Inclusive Finance of DID; Mr. Lionel Pellizzari, Project Director in Canada; Ms. Kate Reekie, Head of Cooperation, Embassy of Canada to Vietnam. On the SBV’s side, there were representatives from the Banking Supervision Agency, the International Cooperation Department, the Information Technology Department, Co-op Bank, etc.
Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu at the meeting
At the meeting, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu welcomed the DID delegation to visit and work with the SBV. He asserted that Vietnamese Government highly appreciated the support and assistance from Canadian Government for Vietnam’s socio-economic development over the past time, especially in the finance and banking sector with encouraging results of Canada-funded projects. More specifically, he emphasized the meaning and the importance of the on-going STEP Project funded by DID for Co-op Bank. This Project aims at supporting the People’s Credit Funds to develop safely and sustainably, contributing to the poverty reduction, agriculture and rural development and sustainable growth.
The DID representative reported to the SBV Deputy Governor the implementation progress of the Project and the plan for the coming time.
DID representative at the meeting
He also shared some of the Project’s planned activities from now to end of this year, such as: organization of a workshop on the situation assessment and market research in the locations of selected People’s Credit Funds; development of a report on the current IT system situations of several People’s Credit Funds. After these reports are approved, the solutions and recommendations in the reports may be applied for a pilot demonstration at one of the People’s Credit Funds; organization of some study tours in Canada and other countries with developed models of credit cooperative systems.
Also at the meeting, the two sides exchanged their views on specific substances of the components of the Project.
LH