From May 2 to 5, 2024, the Working Group of Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Agribank) led by Ms. Tu Thi Kim Thanh - Member of the Board of Directors as Head of the delegation attended the 57th Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) held in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Held under the theme “Bridge to the Future”, the 57th Annual Meeting brought together finance ministers, central bank governors, senior government officials, and representatives from the private sector, academia, media, and civil society from ADB’s 68 members. The participants examined key development issues and challenges facing Asia and the Pacific including climate change, artificial intelligence, and green globalization.

The Agribank delegation attended many discussion sessions on urgent topics for banking operations in the region and around the world such as: Next Generation Digital Infrastructure: Powering AI and Digital Transformation, Private sector financing for climate projects in ADB's developing member countries, Toolkit on promoting gender equality, Strengthening climate change resilience for vulnerable communities, etc.

These sessions provided important knowledge and insights on the pillars of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) criteria, in line with Agribank's efforts to implement ESG in an effective manner in many different aspects of banking operations, towards sustainable development, demonstrating a pioneering role and responsibilities in the country's socio-economic development, accompanying the Government and the Banking Industry in implementing the National Strategy on Green Growth.

In addition to the official sessions at the Meeting, Agribank's Delegation joined the State Bank of Vietnam's (SBV) Delegation to meet and work with ADB and partners.

Representative of Vietnam, Deputy Governor Dao Minh Tu highly appreciated ADB's technical support for the banking industry and hoped that ADB would continue to provide technical support to improve the legal framework for green development, thereby creating favorable conditions for attracting investment capital for green projects.

Besides, the Deputy Governor requested ADB to continue to have more preferential policies and mobilize funding sources at more reasonable costs; prioritize capital sources for projects on green economy, circular economy, energy conversion, large-scale technical infrastructure projects of inter-regional and inter-provincial nature, connecting national dynamic regions, economic corridors, projects with high pervasiveness, etc.

The 57th ADB Annual Conference ended successfully. The delegations expressed sincere gratitude to host country Georgia for the warm and thoughtful welcome. The 58th ADB Annual Meeting is scheduled in Milan from 4 to 7 May 2025.

Kylie Nguyen