On December 3, 2020, the 9th Bilateral Meeting between the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (BOL) was held virtually under the co-chairpersonship of SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and BOL Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay.
Also attending the meeting on the Vietnamese side, there was SBV Deputy Governor Nguyen Kim Anh along with leaders of the Monetary Policy Department, the Payment Department, the International Cooperation Department, the Communication Department, the Organization and Personnel Department, the Foreign Exchange Management Department, the SBV Office and the Banking Supervision Agency. On the Laos side, there was BOL Deputy Governor Vathana Dalaloy together with leaders of the Organization and Personnel Department, the International Cooperation Department, the Payment Systems Department, the Monetary Policy Department and the Commercial Bank Supervision Department.
Broadcasting from Hanoi, on behalf of the entire Vietnamese banking sector, SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong congratulated Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay and the whole BOL staff on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the National Day of the Lao PDR, and expressed her wish that the two central banks would always be close and reliable companions of each other on the paths of development.
From Vientiane, BOL Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay also congratulated Madam Nguyen Thi Hong on her appointment as the first female Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam. Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay believed that the special friendly relationship between the two central banks would be further maintained and strengthened on the basis of the existing close friendship and cooperation between the two countries' banking sectors.
Overview of the meeting from Vientiane
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented challenges to the world and regional economies. Consequently, the banking sectors of both Vietnam and Laos have also faced many difficulties and have had to concentrate all available resources to support the economies, helping to strengthen the resilience to the negative impacts of the pandemic. In that context, the uninterrupted cooperation activities of the banking sectors between Vietnam and Laos reflect the remarkable efforts of both parties, and the virtual organization of this year’s Bilateral Meeting has sent out a clear and joint message of the SBV and the BOL about their determination to maintain and further develop a close cooperative relationship in the banking areas, for the common interests, based on the spirit of the strong friendship between the two Parties, the two Governments and the two Peoples.
At the Meeting, the leaders of the relevant Departments of the two central banks shared presentations and exchanged views on the macro developments, the implementation of the monetary policy, the banking and payment activities, as well as the cooperation prospects between the two central banks. Speaking at the Meeting, BOL Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay shared about the economic growth results and some difficulties that the Laos economy is facing in managing the monetary policy, the exchange rates and the foreign exchange management, such as the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, the property and human losses caused by the recent heavy rains and floods, etc.
After the exchanges from the BOL representatives, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong stated that the SBV shared with the difficulties in operating the monetary policy of the Lao Government and the BOL under the negative impacts of the pandemic, as well as the property and human losses during the last August and September floods in the Central and Southern provinces of Laos. Governor Nguyen Thi Hong affirmed that the SBV always follows closely the developments in the socio-economic life of Laos. Despite all those difficulties, the SBV Governor assessed that the growth results of the key economic industries as well as the overall economic performance of the Lao PDR have been quite encouraging.
Particularly, SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong expressed high appreciation for the support and facilitation of Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay, the Executive Board of Directors and the relevant entities of the BOL extended to Vietnamese commercial banks with presence in Laos in recent years, which has assisted these banks to operate effectively while complying fully with the Lao laws, making a positive contribution to the economic development, and especially contributing to tightening the friendship and comprehensive cooperation relationship between Vietnam and Laos.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong further shared that many international organizations have expressed high evaluation for the policy-making and implementation of the Government of Vietnam in general and the SBV in particular in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic is still going on complicatedly in the world and many countries are falling into a negative growth trajectory, Vietnam has successfully contained the spread of the pandemic and the economy has maintained a positive growth rate which is highest in the ASEAN region.
SBV Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the Meeting
Accordingly, the Government of Vietnam has issued a series of policies to respond and mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, in which the monetary - credit policies formulated and implemented by the SBV have ensured the smooth circulation of the economic bloodlines, making an important contribution to helping the businesses and people to overcome their difficulties, stabilizing the production and restoring the business operations. The SBV has also proactively and promptly requested the credit institutions to review and evaluate the impacts of the epidemics on their clients with a view to quickly developing appropriate support programs and scenarios of the banking sector as well as creating an enabling legal framework for the credit institutions to restructure their repayment terms, waive or reduce the interest rates, and maintain the debt groups in order to remove the difficulties for the clients. Nonetheless, the credit institutions are still required to conform to the principle of not lowering the credit standards in order to ensure the credit quality, safety and prudence of the banking operations.
With regard to the bilateral cooperation in the banking sector, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong expressed her gratitude to the BOL for its support and active participation in the SBV's initiatives as well as in the events within the framework of ASEAN 2020 presided by Vietnam. In addition, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong also spoke highly of the implementation results of the cooperation plan agreed upon by the two parties in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding the cooperation work plan between the two parties in 2021, the two Governors instructed the functional units of the two central banks to coordinate closely with each other to continue the effective implementation of the signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between the two sides.
SBV participants at the Meeting from Hanoi
BOL participants at the Meeting from Vientiane
In their concluding remarks, the two Governors shared the same view that the two parties had had a brief but fruitful Meeting. The two Governors agreed that the contents discussed at the Meeting would be a useful contribution to the implementation of the professional tasks of both parties and to further tightening the special friendship between the SBV and the BOL. The two Governors emphasized that the annual bilateral meeting has become a fine tradition of cooperation between the two central banks as well as the banking sector of the two countries. Moreover, the two Governors also requested that the relevant units of the two central banks continue this tradition, coordinate closely with each other to bring about substantive and effective cooperation results, and make the bilateral cooperative activities become more and more effectively.
VA