Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Vo Thanh Hung (R) and French Minister Delegate for Industry Roland Lescure. (Photo: VNA) Paris (VNA) – Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Finance Vo Thanh Hungheld a working session with French Minister Delegate for Industry RolandLescure in Paris on July 10.
At theevent, Hung expressed his delight at visiting the headquarters of the French Ministryof Economics, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty on the occasionof the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 10th anniversary of strategic partnership between the two countries this year.
He said theVietnamese Ministry of Finance (MoF) highly evaluated the French ministry’s role in providing the French Government’sofficial development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam's socio-economic development.France is now the biggest bilateral donor in Europe for Vietnam while Vietnam isthe second largest recipient of French ODA capital. From 1993-2022, France committedto supplying around 18.4 billion USD in ODA loans to Vietnam through the FrenchTreasury and the French Development Agency (AFD), with a focus ontransportation (railway), water supply and drainage, climate change, energy andgreen growth.
Hungwished to learn from France's experience in the State budget settlement and Statefinancial report making. He believed that the French ministry will worktogether with the MoF to successfully hold technical support activities for 2023-2024,and France will assist Vietnam in strengthening its capacity and graduallybringing Vietnam's public financial management closer to international practices.
Lescure, forhis part, also shared majorreforms that France is making, including pension reform (raising the retirementage to 64 by 2030) to ensure a more sustainable pension system for the countryand to draw more people to the workforce for economic growth.
At the meeting with Expertise France. (Photo: VNA) He affirmedthat Hung’s visit will contribute to further reinforcing close ties between Vietnamand France.
In theafternoon of the same day, Hung paid a working trip to the headquarters of the AFD’sExpertise France.
Receivingthe Vietnamese official, AFD Director Philippe Orliange recalled the content of a meetingbetween the Vietnamese Finance Minister and the French Ambassador in Hanoi lastNovember, which included a proposal related to France's support for theministry in establishing a green budget.
Orliangepledged to assist Vietnam in the project, considering it a priority of the AFD, andbelieved that the project will help the ministry with its modernisation effortsto meet the goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
CEO of Expertise France Jérémie Pellet saidVietnam is the only country in Southeast Asia where Expertise France has established anoffice.
About Vietnam'sconcerns over challenges in green finance initiatives such as building acarbon market, proper use of public and private funding, and enhancing the Government'saction capacity, Pellet said Expertise France is ready to share France’sexperience and urge the European Commission (EC) to assist Vietnam in this field,and introduce Vietnam's model to other countries in Southeast Asia.
He expressed the readiness to cooperate with Vietnam in this green finance project and hopedthat it will meet the expectation of the MoF for sustainable development.
Hung believed that Expertise France, together with the MoF, will successfullyhold technical support activities in 2023-2024, and help the Vietnamese sideenhance the capacity of developing green finance policies, thus contributing todelivering on Vietnam's international commitments.
On theoccasion, Hung and Orliangesigned an agreement onenhancing the capacity of building green finance policies. Accordingly, the twosides will partner in areas such as strengthening the capacity of evaluatinggreen tax policies, supporting the improvement of legal frameworks, improvingthe capacity of issuing green government bonds in the financial market, andimproving research capacity in managing revenue from the carbon market.
During his visit from July10-14, Hung is also scheduled to hold working sessions with the General Directorateof Public Finances, the French Treasury, the Finance Department of Montreuil city and lay a wreath atPresident Ho Chi Minh’s statue in Montreau park./.
