Speaking at the AFMM-22, VietnameseDeputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha described modern and effectiveinfrastructure development as one of the important pillars for Vietnam’ssocio-economic development, which is also a common concern of regionalcountries. Thereby, the regional nations need to build a common plan to deviseproper financial solutions, he said.
The finance ministers laudedASEAN’s progress in banking integration, insurance, capital market and wishedthat member states will sign the eighth Package of Commitments later this year.
The meeting took note of effortsto develop the regional capital market by strengthening capacity and carryingout initiatives such as amending the ASEAN Collective Investment Scheme,issuing ASEAN Green Bond standards, piloting the connectivity of securitiesmarkets, opening a portal on listed companies in ASEAN and rotating capitalmarket experts among regional countries.
The ministers welcomedachievements in harmonising the portfolio of exports-imports of 10 ASEAN memberstates, piloting the ASEAN Customs Transit System in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,Thailand, Vietnam, and exchanging certificates of origin, form D among Vietnam,India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand from January 1, 2018.
They wished that countries willsoon approve the second Protocol on the designation of border gates and theseventh Protocol on ASEAN Customs Transit System to create a legal frameworkfor facilitating transit goods, and refine a mechanism to deal with taxdisputes.
Participants supported rallyingprivate capital for ASEAN infrastructure upgrade and wished to partner with theAsian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) andthe World Bank (WB) during the project preparatory and management stage.
They also expressed support tostrengthen supervision capacity and activities of the ASEAN 3 MacroeconomicResearch Office, as well as initiatives such as ASEAN Disaster Risk Financingand Insurance Programme and stressed the importance of ensuring cyber securityin finance.
The ASEAN Finance Ministers andCentral Bank Governors advocated taking creative and effective financialtechnological solutions and lauded the outcomes of financial inclusion in ASEANby opening a portal on financial education and exchange of knowledge aboutASEAN financial inclusion and issuing guidelines on national financialinclusion strategies.
In the banking industry, the governorsapplauded working groups for completing the key performance indicator and riskmanagement tool, believing that countries will fulfill goals set in the ASEANStrategic Action Plan for financial sustainability and inclusion.
They discussed emerging issuessuch as financial technology and pledged to work closely together to seekeffective solutions to cyber attacks amidst the fourth industrial revolution.
The annual meetings also saw thepresence of representatives from the IMF, WB, ADB, financial and bankingorganisations in the region.-VNA