Promoting bilateral cooperation in finance between Germany and Vietnam

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc and the Ministry of Finance’s delegation work with the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany

Within the framework of cooperation between Vietnam and Germany through the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), a delegation of the Ministry of Finance led by Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc was visiting and working in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Swiss Confederation (Switzerland).

The mission was to exchange experience in public financial management towards green growth; promoting bilateral cooperation in finance between the Ministry of Finance and the agencies of the Federal Republic of Germany and Switzerland on green finance towards green growth, stability and development of the financial and securities market, accelerating the upgrade and achieving the standard of market upgrade following the securities market development strategy approved by the Government, mobilizing ODA capital of the Swiss Government to support the renovation of financial management in Vietnam. At the same time, strengthened cooperation in the tax and customs fields with Germany and Switzerland.

At the talks, Minister Ho Duc Phoc spoke about Vietnam's macro-economy over the past years in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and how Vietnam overcame the pandemic to stabilize and develop the economy.

The Minister emphasized that the leadership of the Party, State and Government of Vietnam, along with the right policies in response to the pandemic as well as the support of the international community, including the precious companionship and support of the Federal Government and people of Germany (with more than 10 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine), Vietnam has overcome the pandemic and soon returned to growth momentum.

Currently, Vietnam is focusing resources on economic recovery through programs to support social security and people's health, support businesses and build infrastructure.

Regarding the policy of sustainable development towards green growth, the Minister said that the Government of Vietnam has made great efforts to find effective solutions to implement activities for energy conversion, environmental protection from climate change, and develop solar energy projects for production and consumption. For Vietnam, the obvious and serious impacts of climate change on production are saltwater intrusion and prolonged drought in the Southeast provinces of Vietnam.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc and Mrs. Svenja Schulze – Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development of Federal Republic of Germany

To solve this, the Minister said that it was necessary to have a comprehensive solution applied in the country and combined with international cooperation. Accordingly, from the perspective of bilateral cooperation between Germany and Vietnam, the two countries need to promote cooperation in financial policy/fiscal policy to promote carbon emissions reduction, experience in capital market development, green bond market, and experience in perfecting institutions and policies to support enterprises to transform production towards greening and reducing emissions in order to fulfill commitments at COP26 on emission reduction.

The Minister expressed his wish that the Federal Government of German would coordinate to support Vietnam in promoting innovation for green growth and sustainable development.

In addition, continuing to support Vietnam through ODA programs and projects to implement solutions to cope with sea level rise and convert fossil energy to renewable sources such as solar energy, wind energy and hydrogen energy.

Furthermore, the Minister hoped that the Federal Government of German would cooperate and share new technologies applied in projects and activities that change the economic structure and are environmentally friendly, such as projects using hydrogen energy, technology on wind energy and solar energy development which are the fields that Vietnam was giving priority for sustainable development and environmental protection.

Minister Ho Duc Phoc and Mrs. Luise Hölscher - Secretary of state of the Ministry of Finance of Federal Republic of Germany.

Speaking with Mrs. Luise Hölscher, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Minister expressed his desire to strengthen cooperation in the field of taxation and customs by promoting the signing of the Agreement on the avoidance of double taxation.

In addition, continuing to negotiate and sign a Customs Cooperation Agreement as well as strengthen cooperation in exchange of experience, application of information technology in customs management and cooperation in exchanging information in anti-smuggling, law violations in the customs field and trade fraud prevention.

At the talks, leaders of the Ministries of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection of the Federal Republic of Germany highly appreciated Vietnam's economic achievements during the difficult period of the Covid-19 pandemic. They expressed their pleasure that Germany has accompanied Vietnam in effectively responding to the pandemic and continuing to promote the cooperation of green economic growth with Vietnam.

The Federal Republic of Germany highly appreciated Vietnam's active efforts in formulating policies and plans for the development of clean energy sources, attaching importance of combating global climate change, and building a power grid system to replace fossil fuels and aim to produce renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy.

Delegation of Vietnam Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs and Climate Action of Federal Republic of Germany

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, the Economic Affairs and Climate Action of the Federal Republic of Germany also proposed to Minister Ho Duc Phoc, on the basis of the functions of the Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, to consider accelerating the disbursement of approved ODA capital for the cooperation program in 2022 and make effective use of this capital to serve renewable energy projects in Vietnam.

At the same time, they expressed their desire to continue accompanying, supporting and cooperating with Vietnam in its efforts toward achieving the energy transition goals, and completing the technological infrastructure for green growth.