On April 22, 2021 at the headquarters of the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), Governor Nguyen Thi Hong had a meeting with Ms. Robyn Mudie, Ambassador of Australia to Vietnam.
At the meeting, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong welcomed Ambassador Robyn Mudie and other officers of the Australian Embassy to visit and work with the SBV. The Governor emphasized that the Government of Vietnam in general and the SBV in particular always pay high attention to and looking forward to further developing the Vietnam - Australia Strategic Partnership in all fields, including banking. The SBV Governor also expressed her impression with Australia's successes in maintaining the socio-economic stability while the COVID-19 pandemic had been posing great challenges for all countries in the world.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong also shared with Ambassador Robyn Mudie about the macroeconomic situation and the outlook of Vietnam, and several key targets for Vietnam's socio-economic development between 2021 to 2025, which were set out in the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress. Accordingly, the average 5-year economic growth (GDP) target is set around 6.5 to 7% per annum. By 2025, Vietnam's GDP per capita is expected to reach USD 4,700 to 5,000; the digital economy is expected to contribute about 20% of the GDP, etc. Implementing the above-mentioned orientations, the banking sector had quickly identified the specific tasks for the whole sector, such as: consistently following the goal of controlling inflation, maintaining the macro-economics stability; paying attention to implementing solutions to remove difficulties for the businesses and people; supporting the economic growth while still holding a firm grip over inflation and ensuring the safety of the banking system's operations; continuing to restructure the credit institution system in association with handling with bad debts in order to ensure the safety and efficiency of the banking system; constantly innovating and applying the achievements of the fourth industrial revolution to provide many services and utilities of the digital banking, while still ensuring the security, safety and convenience for the financial service users ...
In their discussion about Vietnam-Australia relations, the Governor assessed that the strategic partnership between the two countries over the past years had developed comprehensively in all fields of politics, economy, culture, social connections and education/training. The signing of the Plan of Action for the Strategic Partnership for the period of 2020-2023 in November 2020 has helped the Strategic Partnership between the two countries develop more strongly and more in-depth. In addition, Vietnam and Australia are both members of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA - 2010); the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum; and most recently the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP - 2018). These bilateral and multilateral cooperation frameworks are opening up great opportunities for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.
In the areas of banking and finance, the two countries' banking systems also share a close cooperation relationship, positively contributing to the economic, trade and investment development. In addition to the cross-border presence, the commercial banks of the two countries have maintained agency relationships and conducted bilateral payment transactions. The monetary – banking authorities of the two countries have completed a legal framework for cooperation in information exchange in the field of banking supervision and inspection, combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
Speaking at the meeting, Australian Ambassador Robyn Mudie congratulated Governor Nguyen Thi Hong on becoming the first female Governor of the SBV, and believed that under Governor Nguyen Thi Hong's leadership, the Vietnamese banking sector would continue to achieve more successes in the coming time. Expressing her impressions with Vietnam's successes in containing the COVID-19 outbreaks and maintaining stable socio-economic development, the Australian Ambassador emphasized the role of the SBV in managing the monetary policy in a proactive and flexible manner, drastically implementing the solutions and programs to support the businesses and people to overcome difficulties caused by the pandemic, making an important contribution to the macroeconomic stability, supporting growth and ensuring social security.
At the meeting, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and Ambassador Robyn Mudie also exchanged information about further strengthening the bilateral cooperation within the framework of the Australia-Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES); the grants provided by the Australian Government to Vietnam's banking sector in the recent years and a number of proposals for the near future.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong affirmed that the potential and opportunities for cooperation between the two countries are still very big, especially in training high-quality human resources for Vietnam. On this occasion, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong expressed her beliefs that Ambassador Robyn Mudie would continue to be an important bridge to promote the cooperation relationship between Australia and Vietnam in general and between the Central Banks of the two countries in particular.
VA