On November 30, 2021, the 2021 Annual Bilateral Meeting between the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (BOL) was organized virtually under the co-chairmanship of the two central banks' Governors.
Overview of the Meeting at the SBV headquarters
Also attending the Meeting, there was SBV Deputy Governor Pham Thanh Ha and BOL Deputy Governor Vathana Dalaloy, as well as representatives of several entities of the two central banks.
Governor Nguyen Thi Hong speaks at the Meeting
At the Meeting, on the basis of the two sides' discussions, the two Governors made in-depth assessments and gave comments on the management of the two central banks' monetary policies and the banking performance in the two countries, as well as the activities to promote cashless payments by the two central banks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the orientations for the future cooperation between the two central banks.
Commenting about the management of the monetary and the credit policies, the two Governors agreed that the two central banks had conducted the policy instruments in a flexible manner to support the liquidity for the commercial banks in their respective countries, creating favorable conditions for the banks to reduce their lending interest rates and banking fees, thereby facilitating their customers' access to bank loans. In addition, the two central banks have also directed the commercial banks to implement measures of rescheduling debt payments, cutting down the lending interest rates and banking fees for their current borrowers, continuing to provide new loans in order to support their customers to maintain production and business operations, etc.
Talking about the bilateral cooperation between the two central banks, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong expressed her sincere thanks to Governor Sonexay Sitphaxay and the BOL Board of Management for having supported Vietnamese banks' operations in the Lao P.D.R.
The COVID-19 pandemic that has been occurring over the past two years has prevented the two central banks from carrying out many regular cooperation activities. And thus, the two Governors agreed to promote the regular cooperation and the experience sharing between the two central banks in policy formulation and implementation, in order to flexibly respond to the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Regarding the cooperation plan in the coming time, the two Governors directed the focal points of each side to coordinate with each other to review and evaluate the performance of the key cooperation programs over the past time, and to propose and submit to the two Governors a new work plan for the new period. In addition, the SBV and the BOL would coordinate to finalize the procedures for the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in financial system innovation and payment systems, as well as the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in information exchange in the field of banking inspection and supervision, to be the foundation for the implementation of relevant cooperative activities in line with the international practices and the working requirements in the new situation.
SBV delegation at the Meeting
Regarding to the development of cashless payment, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong said that non-cash payment has become increasingly popular and a clear trend in both Vietnam and the Lao P.D.R., contributing to promoting the financial inclusion in each country. It is forecast that by 2030, the Asia Pacific region would lead the world in terms of growth of cashless payments. As two of the emerging economies in the region, Vietnam and the Lao P.D.R. have a lot of potential for the robust development of non-cash payment.
In their conclusions at the Meeting, the two Governors shared the view that the two sides had a brief but effective exchange, and believed that the discussions at the Meeting would make useful contributions to the improvement of the performance of the two central banks, as well as help to further tighten the special friendship between the SBV and the BOL. The two Governors also requested the relevant entities of the two sides to continue to promote the good cooperation traditions between the two sides and to closely coordinate with each other in order to effectively implement the specific contents mutually agreed at the Meeting.
Le Hang