The SBV attended the 4th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

This year's AIIB Annual Meeting took place in the context that multilateral organizations are promoting many initiatives to connect Asia, including the ASEAN Connectivity 2025, the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor, the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program, the South Asia Sub-regional Economic Cooperation (SASEC) Program, etc. The dramatic increase in the number of initiatives on connectivity requires increased cooperation among the multilateral organizations in order to ensure effectiveness, resource efficiency and quality of investment projects, as well as transparency and compliance with social and environmental standards. This was also one of the important recommendations that the G20 has made to the international financial institutions such as the WB, the ADB and the AIIB.

In that spirit, at the sessions before the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors during July 10-11, 2019, the AIIB’’s Board of Directors spent time discussing about the initiative to establish a Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF). This initiative was launched with the goal of promoting the cooperation among the multilateral development banks in investments in high-quality, international-standard connectivity infrastructure. In addition, the AIIB Board of Directors also approved a Monitoring Mechanism to systematize the Board's control instruments for the AIIB Management Board (headed by the President) to ensure that the Bank's activities comply with the approved policies and strategies. This is an important step in the organizational governance of the AIIB, laying a solid foundation to support the member countries (through the AIIB Board of Directors) to supervise the Bank's operations, ensuring that the AIIB is a prestigious, transparent and efficient international organization. As the Alternate Director of the Group of countries of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam, the representative of the SBV attended all these sessions, as well as participated in the commenting processes, the discussions on the operational reports, the policy documents and other related documents at the sessions.

At the official Meeting, the AIIB's Board of Governors listened to the report on the Bank's performance last year. After more than 3 years of operation, the AIIB has approved funding for 46 projects with a total value of 8.5 billion USD in 18 countries, with diversified investment modalities such as public sector funding, private sector funding, funding and capital contribution... An impressive result of the AIIB's financial activities last year was the first global issuance of the AIIB bonds in May 2019, mobilizing 2.5 billion USD for a 5-year term at coupon rate of 2.25%. The AIIB's pilot bonds are rated triple-A by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch Ratings, showing the results of the AIIB's commitment to the highest standards of governance, transparency and accountability. Also at the Meeting, the Board of Governors voted on the admission of three new members, i.e. the Republic of Benin, the Republic of Djibouti and the Republic of Rwanda, increasing the total number of the AIIB members to 100 countries/territories.

On the side of the Meeting, the Vietnamese delegation had a courtesy meeting with Mr. Joachim von Amsberg - Vice President for Policy and Strategy of the AIIB. At the meeting, SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu expressed his congratulations on the AIIB's impressive achievements after 3 years of operation, proving that the AIIB is a reliable multilateral financial institution with high standards of governance, transparency and accountability. The Deputy Governor also spoke highly of the AIIB's establishment of a Client Relations and Programming Office to develop a National Investment Program with a view to promoting the efficiency of the AIIB’s capital for infrastructure development in the member countries. The SBV Deputy Governor hoped that the Vice President would direct this technical unit to develop a National Investment Program specifically for Vietnam, suitable to the current context and conditions of Vietnam.

SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu works with Mr. Joachim von Amsberg – AIIB Vice President

The AIIB’s Vice President in response spoke highly of Vietnam's impressive results over the past time on economic growth and macro stability; stressing the importance of Vietnam as a founding member, a reliable and responsible partner of the AIIB in particular and in the international community in general. The AIIB is committed to continuing to work closely with Vietnamese stakeholders to understand the needs and provide flexible financial products in line with Vietnam's context and needs to support infrastructure development.

Also on the side of the Meeting, the Vietnamese delegation also had a high-level meeting with representatives of the European Commission (EU). At this meeting, the representatives of the EU delegation spoke highly of the Vietnam - EU cooperation and agreed that the recently-signed EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) would facilitate further promotion of Vietnam-EU trade and investment relations. The two sides exchanged ideas on the EU-proposed initiative on the implementation of "mixed" financing methods with the aim of supporting Vietnam in mobilizing infrastructure investment capital.

SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu works with the European Commission

SBV Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu welcomed the EU's policy to diversify financing methods for Vietnam and said that the SBV - as the formal representative of Vietnam at the international financial and banking institutions such as the WB, the ADB, the AIIB... - would work closely with the EU and the relevant Vietnamese agencies to implement and promote the effectiveness of the EU support for economic development in general and infrastructure development in particular. The SBV Deputy Governor also shared updated information on the positive results of Vietnam's economic growth and macro management in the first 6 months of 2019, the implementation of the banking sector restructuring scheme in association with bad debt handlings, and the preparation process for the APG's Multilateral Review for Vietnam. The two sides agreed to continue to further promote the Vietnam - EU cooperation in general and the cooperative relations in the banking sector in particular. 

The participation of the Vietnamese delegation at the Meeting and in the agendas at the Meeting had a significant meaning in the present time, when Vietnam has graduated from the group of countries with access to preferential resources from the banks and the development partners, and has to increase its access to more market-based capital sources. Through attending the official activities of the Meeting as well as the bilateral meetings, the Vietnamese delegation expressed the message that Vietnam will continue to be an active member in building and developing the AIIB. At the same time, the Vietnamese delegation also expressed hopes that the AIIB and other international donors would increase their direct financing for Vietnamese enterprises and investors without the government guarantee, in consistent with the Government's orientations to encourage private investments in general and the infrastructure development in particular.

According to the Resolution adopted by the Board of Governors, the 5th AIIB Annual Meeting will be held from July 2-3, 2020 in Beijing, China. This will also be an opportunity for the AIIB to organize the Launching Ceremony of the Bank's headquarters.

VA