Morning of 21 March 2015, Kuala Lumpur : The 19th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting (AFMM19) was officially opened. Finance Ministers of ASEAN countries, Deputy Secretary-Genaral of ASEAN, President of Asian Development Bank (ADB), representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), CEO of the World Bank (WB)… are present at the meeting this year. Finance Minister of Vietnam Mr. Dinh Tien Dung leads the delegation of the Ministry of Vietnam to the meeting.
ASEAN Finance Ministers at AFMM19
At the AFMM19, Finance Ministers and leaders of international financial institutions discussed the role of fiscal and monetary policies in alleviating poverty, the needs for financing in Asian infrastructure and solutions to harmonize and integrate regional tax. The Ministers also discussed the progress of other financial cooperation issues such as insurance, customs and tax.
Overview of the AFMM
At the meeting, Minister Dinh Tien Dung raised the issue of cooperation in tax area among ASEAN countries. He suggested that ASEAN countries are at diverse development levels, thus there is a need for recognition of the difference, enhancement of information exchange and technical support and cooperation, particularly in tax area in order to find solutions to respond to decline in budget revenue due to externalities, tax evasion, transfer pricing and tax fraud.
Minister Dinh Tien Dung delivering his speech at the meeting
Many other important issues are being discussed by ASEAN Finance Ministers before the 1st ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Joint Meeting this afternoon, 21 March.
The Ministry of Finance Portal will update the progress and result of the Meetings.
HMT-From Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
(Translation: T.Tien)