Hanoi (VNA) – An official of the Ministry of Financehas detailed four financial cooperation initiatives proposed by Vietnam in theAPEC Year 2017, ahead of the Senior Finance Officials’ Meeting slated for May18-19 in Ninh Binh province.

Vu Nhu Thang, Director of the ministry’sDepartment of International Cooperation, told Vietnam News Agency that the fourinitiatives relate to finance for infrastructure, base erosion and profitshifting (BEPS), disaster risk finance and insurance, and comprehensivefinance.

They are associated with the nationalprioritised pillars in 2017, when Vietnam hosts APEC events.

He elaborated that the initiative on long-terminvestment in infrastructure aims to emphasise the role of financialmechanisms, especially the risk sharing mechanism, in building infrastructureprojects through feasible public-private partnership (PPP). Meanwhile, Vietnamand other developing economies have growing demand for infrastructuredevelopment and the private sector’s engagement in those projects.

The anti-BEPS cooperation initiative is meant toboost the sharing of experience and improve the capacity of APEC’s developingeconomies so as to implement the OECD’s BEPS action plan.

It is a fact that BEPS is a global issue thatneeds an overall solution based on multilateral cooperation, while the currentprevention of BEPS through unilateral and bilateral measures is unfeasible dueto the rising number of major multilateral companies with increasingly complextransactions, Thang said.

The discussion of BEPS minimum standards at APECmeetings will allow Vietnam and other developing economies to learn from the experienceof policy makers and experts of developed economies in applying policy toolsand receive direct technical assistance, he added.

In the initiative on disaster risk finance andinsurance, the focus is on the exchange of experience in making financial andinsurance solutions in response to disaster risks.

This topic is put on the table with a view tohelping promote APEC economies’ resilience and response to disaster risks,improve their capacity of solving disaster consequences, and reduce the burdenof budget spending and risks to public asset.

Thang noted the comprehensive finance initiativelooks to discuss and share experience in finance for agriculture and ruralareas.

Micro-finance hasn’t truly developed in most ofdeveloping economies, he said, adding that access to financial products stillfaces obstacles since the price and design of micro-financial products have yetto meet low-income earners’ diverse demand.

Therefore, APEC will work to devise solutionsfacilitating the access to financial services in agriculture and rural areas,the official said.-VNA