REVIEW
of
FINANCE -
Jan. 2018
45
In addition, recognize effective contributions
and support of ABAC/ FDC, WB/IFC, BTCA/
UNCDF and other international development
partners for fruitful APEC’s cooperation
on financial inclusion in 2017 with 3 main
deliverables, namely: (i) Report on cooperative
activities and policy recommendations under
the APEC Financial Inclusion Forum for the
improvement of regional financial inclusion;
(ii) Report on “The Role of Digital Payments in
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”; and
(iii) Draft MOU to guide cooperation in Cross-
Border Credit Exchange.
The State Bank of Viet Nam also proposed the
APEC’s Financial ministers to encourage APEC
members to utilize these achievements to support
the development of financial inclusion on non-
binding basis, in line with specific features of
each APEC economy and to further strengthen
APEC cooperation in this area.
Cooperation Orientation in the coming time
In Financial Inclusion Report in APEC 2017
of Finance Minister Meetings organized in
Vietnam, Finance Ministers have acknowledged
the significance of financial inclusion and
appreciate the collective contributions of APEC
member economies and international partners
to the sustainable, innovative and inclusive
development of financial services in the region.
In this respect, the OECD/INFE progress report
on financial literacy and financial consumer
protection in APEC economies and look forward
for the final report.
APEC Finance Ministers also recognized
that agricultural finance makes an important
contribution to the sustainable development of
agriculture and rural areas, and helps narrow
income gaps through capacity building for
exchange; (ii) the key elements for setting an
eficient mechanism for cross-border information
exchange, including legal framwork and
database; (iii) drafting samples of MOU on Credit
Information Exchange and Data Dictionary.
Participants therein came to a consensus
that APEC economies should soon prepare
their adaptive legal frameworks and promote
cross-border information exchange through
either bilateral or multilateral cooperation
and there should be general guidelines for
implementation. The main APEC deliverable to
report to APEC Ministers this year was a sample
MOU to be entered into bilaterally among both
public and private credit bureaus which can
help facilitate cross-border credit information
exchange in the region. The APEC economies
should be encouraged to use this sample MOU
on non-binding basis, subject to specific features
of each member.
The 3rd event was the 4th FIDN Conference on
“Financial Infrastructure Reform” held in Quang
Nam Province with the participation of about 100
delegates from APEC and non-APEC economies,
international financial organizations and
development partner, national and international
speakers. Participants therein actively discussed:
(i) the progress in financial infrastructure
development in Asia - Pacific; (ii) the challenges
of secured transactions legal reforms; (iii) the
implementation of secured transactions legal
reform by judiciary; and (iv) the assistance to
the development of movable asset finance with
valuation services. At the Conference, speakers
and delegates actively shared their practical
and multi-dimentional views on the above-
mentioned topics and consequently set out some
orientations for future cooperation to enhance the
regional financial infrastructure development.
As of administrative role, the State Bank
of Viet Nam proposed the APEC’s Financial
ministers to recognize the cooperative
efforts and deliverables in APEC 2017 on
financial inclusion of APEC’s economies and
development partners, thereby contributing
to the sustainable, innovative and inclusive
development in the region, especially in serving
sustainable rural and agricultural development
in developing APEC members.
Over the past year, APEC economies have
worked closely, together with international
organizations to carry out practical and
effective activities, both bilaterally and
multilaterally, to deepen this cooperation. The
focussed activities are 3 big events hosted in
Vietnam in coordination with ABAC/FDC and
theWB/IFC.
