In addition, Mr. Nguyen Van Thao, Ambassador of Vietnam in Belgium cum Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Ms. Vu Thi Chan Phuong, Chairman of the State Securities Commission, representatives of leaders of units under the Ministry of Finance (MoF), State Securities Commission, Vietnam Securities Depository Center, Hanoi Stock Exchange, and leaders of Vietnam's four major commercial banks (including Vietcombank, BIDV, Vietinbank, and MB) attended the meeting.
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| Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc and Julie Becker - General Director of Luxembourg Stock Exchange Photo: Duy Thai. |
At the meeting, Minister Ho Duc Phoc thanked Julie Becker and her colleagues for the respectful and thoughtful reception given to the Vietnamese MoF’s working delegation.
According to the Minister, following Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Luxembourg in December 2022, and the official visit to Vietnam of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel in May 2023, the MoF of Vietnam organized a working delegation with management agencies and organizations operating the stock market as well as contacting and exchanging activities with investors to provide more information on orientations, policies, thereby attracting foreign investors to invest in Vietnam, directing green finance development to support green growth for Vietnam.
"As far as I know, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange is the first stock exchange in the world to have a dedicated trading floor for green securities, and it currently lists half of the world's green bonds. The Exchange plays an increasingly important role in mobilizing investment capital for the green economy while also creating conditions for issuers and investors to implement green and sustainable goals," said Minister Ho Duc Phoc."
During the meeting, the Minister also briefed Julie Becker and her colleagues on the macroeconomic situation and the Vietnamese stock market. Moreover, the Minister informed Julie Becker about Vietnam's stock market's development strategy. As a result, in addition to the goals of ensuring security, safety, transparency, and best protecting the rights of market participants, the MoF has actively been implementing in the direction of developing green finance to serve the goal of green growth and sustainable development.
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| Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc (the second person from the left) at the meeting. Photo: Duy Thai. |
"Vietnam is interested in and implementing action plans to launch and develop green finance and we have achieved certain achievements," Minister Ho Duc Phoc said in a statement.
As a result, the legal framework for green finance began to be developed when the Prime Minister approved the National Action Plan on Green Growth for the period 2014-2020. By January 2021, the Government had approved the National Strategy for Green Growth 2021-2030, Vision 2050, to move towards a green and carbon-neutral economy and contribute to the goal of limiting the increase in global temperature.
On that basis, the MoF and ministries of green finance's system of legal documents and policies have been gradually completed, regulating types of products such as green bonds, green stocks, and green credit, and creating conditions for businesses to mobilize green capital both domestically and internationally.
“Enterprises in Vietnam have shown their interest in issuing green bonds. In 2021-2022, along with some countries in the region, Vietnam's sustainable debt capital market saw strong growth, totaling US $1.5 billion in 2021. Furthermore, Vietnam's Sustainability Index (VNSI) was officially launched in 2017. At the moment, the index includes 20 enterprises listed on the Stock Exchange that have the best points of sustainable development," the Minister added.
According to HSBC's assessment report, Vietnam is currently the second largest green debt issuer in ASEAN, after Singapore. However, the results have been still modest compared to the potential.
“One of the reasons is that there has not been a strong motivation to boost supply and demand for the green financial market. In terms of market demand, more professional financial institutions with long-term investment strategies are needed to invest in green financial products, while quality green projects with reputable issuers are required to create market supply. On the other hand, there must be a way like an exchange for the supply and demand sides to meet, thereby increasing liquidity and efficiency in the green financial market. To that end, it is necessary to create conditions for infrastructure and convenience in investor trading activities, further modernize the transaction system supporting various methods and forms of transactions, modernize the transaction mechanism, and gradually deploy and apply modern techniques under international practices.", the Minister added.
During the meeting, Julie Becker thanked Minister Ho Duc Phoc for sharing such detailed and useful information about Vietnam's economic and stock market situation. At the same time, the General Director of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange informed the delegation about the operation, management mechanism, supervision, application of technology, and human resources, particularly the Exchange's strength in developing green and sustainable financial products.
Ms. Julie Becker also highly appreciated and expressed her congratulations on the impressive development results of Vietnam's stock market, even though the development process was not long. The General Director of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange also informed the Minister about the Luxembourg Stock Exchange's close relationship, effective cooperation, and support with the State Securities Commission and Vietnam's Stock Exchanges in recent years.
Following Julie Becker's sharing and evaluation, Minister Ho Duc Phoc proposed several issues to promote collaboration between the two countries towards the goal of strengthening the cooperative relationship between the two nations in general and the securities market management and operation agencies in particular.
The Minister stated that during the visit of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and the Vietnam Stock Exchange signed a cooperation agreement; therefore it is recommended that the two Exchanges will coordinate to develop a specific plan for annual implementation, specifically specifying the contents related to the exchange of experiences on green financial product transactions in the stock market.
In addition, Vietnam wishes to expand its cooperation with Luxembourg to develop Vietnam's stock market from a marginal market to an emerging market. Accordingly, the Minister suggested that Luxembourg should support Vietnam to continue building and perfecting institutions and technologies for digital transformation, operating the public, transparent, safe, healthy, and sustainable stock market, and enhancing high-quality human resources.
"Vietnam is also promoting Environmental - Social - Governance (ESG) practices in the stock market, as well as actively fostering green finance development through guidelines and policies to facilitate green capital mobilization in the stock market. We do hope that the Luxembourg Stock Exchange can facilitate the connection with green investors from Luxembourg and Europe who want to diversify their investment capital to invest in green projects, environmentally friendly projects in Vietnam that require capital," the Minister proposed.
At the meeting, members of the delegation from the State Securities Commission and the Hanoi Stock Exchange had several in-depth discussions about cooperation issues, as well as the Luxembourg Stock Exchange's experience, management, and operation methods.
Following the in-depth exchange of expertise, both Minister Ho Duc Phoc and Ms. Julie Becker confirmed that they will continue to connect and strengthen in-depth collaboration so that Luxembourg's support becomes more effective, particularly in the areas of stock market management and supervision, the exchange and sharing of IT applications, training, and improving the quality of workforce enhancement…/.
