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Treasury officers at work. Photo: Thuy Linh

The State Treasury said that the technical assistance cooperation program between the OTA and the State Treasury of Vietnam was signed in May 2019. The cooperation content focuses on reforming and improving the quality of public financial management.

In which, the OTA will assist the State Treasury in procedures to improve liquidity management; measures to minimize the risk of shortfall in budget through debt issuance and temporarily idle treasury investments; development of investment policies, treasury management as well as electronic tools to support the performance and reform to improve the effectiveness of the budget; settlement reports; consolidated financial reports; and procedures for state budget spending control.

In the past ten months of 2021, the two sides held online working sessions. The OTA side advised and shared with the State Treasury of Vietnam in the field of treasury management, the need for technical support and multi-price bidding for Government bonds, and debt portfolio management.

The State Treasury of Vietnam gained more experience in the development of credit cards in the state budget expenditures of budget-using units; and developed electronic identification. At the same time, the State Treasury also asked the OTA to share experience in some more areas and technologies on Government debit cards; Electronic identification for public agencies and Block chain technology.

Recently, the State Treasury and the OTA have approved the plan for the two remaining months of 2021 and focused on the key areas such as state financial statements, results of the preparation of the state financial statements in 2019 and the progress of the preparation of the state financial statements in 2020, international experiences and supported Vietnam in stating public asset values ​​in state financial statements.

In addition, the State Treasury of Vietnam wished the OTA assist in contents of the chart of accounting (COA). Accordingly, the OTA expert exchanged the current COA based on the characteristics of the Vietnamese budget system; edited the COA in the construction of overall structure of Vietnam Digital Budget and Accounting System (VDBAS).

The State Treasury and the OTA have agreed on a 2022 cooperation plan which will focus on consulting and sharing in the following areas: capital mobilization (issuance and management of green bond management in the US or countries issuing green bonds); state accounting (including: State financial statements, analysis and interpretation of state financial statements and solutions to improve the quality and shorten the time to make financial statements for the goal of becoming an reliable, honest and appropriate financial information source; reform of the structure of the COA accounting code and control of State budget spending and internal audit in the State Treasury system).

According to the State Treasury, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, OTA's technical support cooperation activities for the State Treasury of Vietnam have been effective. OTA's consultants who have a wealth of experience in public financial management, state accounting and goods knowledge of reform practices and trends in the world, have shared and suggested many useful recommendations in the working sessions between the two parties.

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These will offer practical experiences to help the State Treasury of Vietnam get the most effective professional support tools to perform its tasks safely, effectively and efficiently and meet the requirements and conditions of socio-economic development of Vietnam.