3:26:37 PM | 7/8/2005
Vietnam’s Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung headed a Vietnamese delegation to attend the 9th ASEAN Finance Ministerial Meeting opened in Vientiane on April 6 to review the region’s development results and future cooperation in the finance sector.
Opening the meeting, Lao Prime Minister Bounnhang Vorachit highlighted the efforts made by ASEAN finance ministers and the assistance given by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the ASEAN Secretariat, which have contributed to the gradual fulfillment of the region’s financial and monetary targets.
PM Vorachit said that the strategy and targets stated in the 2004-2010 Vientiane Action Program have been thoroughly examined and are currently being implemented. One of the most important targets for ASEAN is to develop the Asian bond market. He expressed his hope that in the future, issuing bonds will become an important source of funds for ASEAN development in individual regional countries and in the region as a whole.
At the meeting, the ministers expressed their satisfaction at ASEAN’s economic recovery with average growth reaching 6 per cent in 2004 as compared to 5.4 per cent in 2003. The rate was the highest since the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
According to the ministers the rapid growth of the regional economy over the past year has been attributed to policies designed to simulate demand in individual countries, and to substantial increases in exports to the major markets.
However, the ministers predicted that the region’s economic growth would stand at just 5.7 per cent this year after large increases in petrol prices, the instability and imbalance of the world market, and the fall in the value of the US dollar.
The ministers praised the results from implementation of ASEAN financial co-operation programs and agreed to raise the funds committed in the ASEAN Money Conversion Agreement from US$1 billion to US$2 billion in order to create favorable conditions for ASEAN member countries to stabilize their monetary markets.
The ministers also acknowledged the effective cooperation among regional countries between 1998 and 2004 with regard to the ASEAN Agreement on Development Cooperation and Customs Integration. The agreement included the application of the list of goods imported under the harmonized ASEAN procedures and the creation of a legal framework for the implementation of the “ASEAN one stop shop model for customs” policy.
The ministers approved a development strategy for the development of ASEAN customs in the period from 2005 to 2010 with a focus on continuing to modernize the customs system to move towards an ASEAN Economic Community.
Regarding regional cooperation and integration in terms of financial and monetary affairs, the ministers stressed the need to narrow the gap between capital markets in the region. One of the measures they introduced was to implement the programs to train personnel in charge of making policies for capital markets. They committed to implementing a program to connect every securities market in the region together by 2020, ensuring policy transparency, and liberalizing capital accounts.
The ministers welcomed the progress that has been made in the implementation of the ASEAN+3 Asian Bond Market Initiative (ABMI). The ABMI has exerted a positive influence on the approach to the development of securities markets in Vietnam, as well as on the country’s involvement in international securities markets.
To develop the ASEAN capital markets, the ASEAN finance ministers decided to organize their 2nd meeting with investors in London this September with a view to promoting ASEAN’s image.
Concluding the meeting, the ministers signed a protocol on the liberalization of financial services. They also declared the initiation of the 4th round of talks which will last till 2007, as part of the roadmap for liberalizing financial services under the framework of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on Services, which is to be implemented between now and 2020.
During the working visit to the 9th AFMM, Mr. Hung also spent one working day with Laos’ Finance Minister to review and boost implementation of finance cooperation programs between the two countries.
VNA, VoV
Vietnamese
