Accompanying Governor Nguyen Thi Hong to attend the BM were Mr. To Huy Vu, Director General of International Cooperation Department, Mr. Pham Anh Tuan - Director General of the Payment Department under the SBV and representatives of heads of units under the State Bank, Mr. Nguyen Quang Hung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of NAPAS, Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh - General Director of NAPAS and representatives of relevant commercial banks and companies.

On the Lao side, there was attendance of Governor Bounleua Sinxayvoravong, Deputy Governor Vathana Dalaloy and representatives of leaders of key units of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The 2023 Bilateral Meeting took place in the atmosphere of celebrating the 48th anniversary of the National Day of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (December 2, 1975 - December 2, 2023). On this occasion, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong sent congratulations to Governor Bounleua Sinxayvoravong and all officials, civil servants and employees of the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

The Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam and the Governor of the Bank of the Lao People's Democratic Republic exchanged experiences and directly discussed many important issues for the management of the State Bank in the world situation with many unstable factors, negatively impacting the economy.

In addition, the leaders of the two countries' state banks expressed their satisfactions on positive achievements in cooperation between the two countries' banking systems in recent times and aimed to continue building a solid bridge connecting Vietnam - Laos investment and trade, helping bilateral economic relations develop in both breadth and depth, contributing to cultivating traditional friendship and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

Within the framework of the Bilateral Meeting, Governor Nguyen Thi Hong and Governor Bounleua Sinxayvoravong signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the use of local currencies and witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on research cooperation and pilot implementation of bilateral retail payment linkage using Lao PDR and Vietnam cross-border QR between LAPNet and NAPAS.

Accordingly, LAPNet and NAPAS will coordinate to deploy a cross-border payment system using QR code between Vietnam and Laos; cooperate in researching solutions to support payment services between the two countries; make efforts to allocate resources to facilitate and accelerate the implementation process.

The Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between NAPAS and LAPNet is also a prerequisite cooperation document, facilitating the implementation of practical and effective cooperation activities, contributing to promoting the field of electronic payment and strengthening economic connection between Vietnam and Laos in the coming time.

In the role of a financial switching unit and a provider of national retail payment infrastructure, in 2022, NAPAS also officially deployed successfully connecting cross-border payments by QR scanning between Vietnam and Thailand, bringing many conveniences and quick payments to tourists from both countries as well as contributing to supporting trade activities and promoting economic and tourism development.

In the coming time, under the direction of the State Bank, NAPAS will continue to strengthen cooperation with national payment companies in the ASEAN region to connect cross-border payments through payment methods such as QR codes, NAPAS cards, etc. This is also an inevitable trend in the context that ASEAN countries are trying to promote the implementation of regional payment connections and increase transactions in local currencies to meet the needs of transaction and payment of people and the economy for the inclusive and sustainable development of countries.

VietQR is a common brand identity for QR code payment and transfer services processed through the network of NAPAS and member banks, payment intermediaries and partners both inside and outside Vietnam. VietQR complies with the Basic Standards for QR codes issued by the State Bank of Vietnam and the QR code payment standards of EMV Co.