Within the framework of the official visit to Vietnam of the Prime Minister of Australia, on June 04, 2023, in Hanoi, under the witness of Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung exchanged with Mr. Andrew Goledzivowski, Ambassador of Australia to Vietnam, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) of the Government of Australia on the cooperation in financial intelligence sharing related to money laundering and terrorist financing, which had been signed by the respective leaders of the two organizations.
The MoU aims to create additional channels for the information sharing and cooperation in collecting, analyzing, exchanging information related to financial transactions suspected to be money laundering, terrorist financing, as well as criminal activities related to money laundering or terrorist financing; contributing practically to promoting the bilateral cooperation in the prevention and combat of related crimes, especially serious crimes and organized crimes, between the two countries.
This MoU was signed in the context of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic ties between the two countries, and for the implementation of the Australia - Vietnam Enhanced Economic Engagement Strategy (EEES) signed in 2020. This was also the second MoU between the SBV and an Australian monetary and banking regulatory authority.
Before that, at the official talks between the Prime Ministers of the two Governments, the two sides affirmed that the cooperation in banking and finance would be one of the three key cooperation pillars between the two countries.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the practical support through the official development assistance (ODA) provided by the Government of Australia to Vietnam over the past years in all sectors and areas. The Vietnamese Prime Minister hoped that the Government of Australia would continue to accompany and support Vietnam, and make ODA become one of the cooperation pillars between the two countries.
In the fields of banking and finance, the SBV had received a lot of ODA resources as well as the technical assistance from the Government of Australia, especially Loan preparation project for the Financial Sector Development and Financial Inclusion Program - Subprogram 1 (FSDIP.SP1), and the Mekong Business Initiative Project, which aims to support the development of mechanisms, policies and legal frameworks in the field of Fintech.
Also at the bilateral talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed Australian investors to continue investing in Vietnam in the fields of telecommunications, education, banking, digital transformation and green economy.
On the side of the official talks, SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung also had meetings with several senior officials of the Government of Australia. The SBV Governor thanked the Government and the relevant authorities of Australia for their support to Vietnam in the implementation of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, and in the development of the legal and policy frameworks in the field of Fintech. This support was extremely important and had a significant meaning to the development of Vietnam's finance and banking sector.
SBV Deputy Governor Pham Tien Dzung expressed his wishes that, the two sides would further promote the cooperation activities, exchange information and management experience in the field of banking, as expected by the leaders of the two countries.
LK