China-Vietnam Workshop on SME Financing held in Vietnam
The China-Vietnam Workshop on Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Financing co-sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Finance and Development Center (AFDC) of China's Ministry of Finance and the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance's Institute of Financial Training (IFT) was held from November 18th to the 20th in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The workshop attracted more than 100 participants from Vietnam's Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning and Investment, from universities and research institutes as well as Vietnam's private sector. Vietnam's Vice Minister of Finance and Mr. Peng Runzhong of the AFDC opened the workshop on November 18th.
Three major topics covered in the workshop were overview of policy assistance and state management of SME development support, financial support for SMEs, and policies that help widen SME financing channels.
Ms. Di Na, Deputy Director General of the SME Department of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Mr. Kan Xiaoxi, Deputy Director of the Financial Department of China's Ministry of Finance, and Mr. Xu Liangping, Deputy Director of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange delivered presentations on specific topics and shared China’s experience on developing SMEs with the participants.
Participants felt they had gained much from the sharing of practical lessons learned by China over the course of SME development. A study of Vietnam's SME related practices can also help further improve China's policies and support system. Both parties agreed to continue cooperation and development in this field in the future.
This has been the first event held in Vietnam under the Frame Cooperation Agreement signed between the AFDC and IFT last year. The agreement aims to strengthen capacity building of the Chinese and Vietnamese financial systems. It attracted much attention from the Vietnamese side and was covered by their national TV channel.
The AFDC and IFT have decided to meet again sometime this year to review the progress made in the past year and plan activities for 2010.
