The 6th Meeting of Finance Ministers and Governor of the Central Bank of ASEAN (AFMGM) and related conferences chaired by Vietnam have been successful with many important results. In particular, the Ministers of Finance and the Governor of the Central Bank of ASEAN all affirmed the continued cooperation, ensured the stability of the regional financial-banking system and contributed to supporting economic recovery.

Making a speech at the press conference on the results of the 6th AFMGM Conference and related conferences on the afternoon of October 2nd, 2020, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said, association with the ASEAN national theme of Vietnam. By 2020 was "ASEAN cohesion and proactively adapt", the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Vietnam have given priority to promoting two initiatives, "Sustainable Finance" and "Connecting regional payments".

The Finance Ministers and the Governor of the ASEAN Central Bank welcomed Vietnam's initiatives to continue to realize their goals of promoting intra-regional economic and financial integration and connectivity to deepen the region's cohesion with the international community for sustainable development, while enhancing ASEAN's adaptive capacity and institutional capacity.

The outputs of the initiatives are “Reporting to promote sustainable finance in ASEAN” and the Code of Conduct for the Implementation of the ASEAN Payment Policy Framework that is applicable to real-time cross-border retail payments along with attached annexes which were adopted by the Conference.

Additionally, through the conferences, the Governor of the Central Bank (Central Bank) and the ASEAN Finance Minister and partners all agreed to recognize that the world and the regional economy is being heavily affected by the pandemic Covid-19.

According to ADB forecasts, the majority of ASEAN countries expect negative growth from -1% to - 8% in 2020; except for 3 countries with low positive growth, from 1.4% to 1.8%; including Vietnam. There are optimistic signals that international organizations believe that positive growth will return to the ASEAN region in 2021 from 3% to 6.5%. In which, Vietnam is forecasted by ADB to achieve 6.3% growth.

The Ministers and Governor once again affirmed their commitment to continue ensuring the stability of the regional financial and banking system in order to contribute to supporting economic recovery.

The meeting also affirmed the role of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of ASEAN countries in joint efforts to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on the region and economic recovery. The timely and effective implementation of the monetary and fiscal solution packages has affirmed the determination of the central banks and the ASEAN Finance Ministries in implementing the common goals of reducing the impact of the pandemic to ensure stability and support economic development. The aforementioned policy solutions have been deployed in line with the general spirit of the ASEAN Chairmanship Declaration which was promulgated on February 14 this year.

In particular, the Ministers and Governor all committed to continue promoting financial and monetary 

“In the new economic-financial conditions, we have focused on promoting recent issues in regional cooperation such as digital transformation and technology application in financial services, sustainable finance. Sustainable and comprehensive finance ”- Bank Governor Le Minh Hung informs.

Specifically, at the Conference of the Governors of the Central Bank, the Governors had a dialogue session with representatives of the Bank for International Settlements, General Directors of ASEAN commercial banks and the ASEAN Banking Association on the topic of promoting digital transformation in the banking sector. Or at the joint meeting between the Governor of the Central Bank and the ASEAN Finance Minister, the Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance had a dialogue with the ASEAN Business Advisory Councils, EU-ASEAN Business Council, Business Council of United States - ASEAN on digital payments, inclusive finance and sustainable infrastructure. "These topics are an important premise for the next phase of cooperation from this year - the mid-term review year of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025." - Mr. Le Minh Hung emphasized.

At the press conference, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung and Governor of the State Bank Le Minh Hung and Deputy Minister of Finance Tran Xuan Ha, Deputy Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Thi Hong also answered many questions from Press reporters around the 6th AFMGM Conference and related conferences.