The Vietnamese delegation included Ms. Dao Thuy Hang - Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Department of the State Bank of Vietnam, representatives of the Departments under the State Bank of Vietnam, the Trade Union and the Youth Union of the State Bank of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh - General Director of the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS) and representatives of relevant departments of NAPAS.

With Laos, the seminar was attended by Ms. Khankeo Lamaningao - Deputy Governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR, representatives of Departments and units under the Bank of the Lao PDR, Mr. Sisamone Srithirath - CEO of Lao National Payment Network Company Limited (LAPNet).

Ms. Khankeo Lamaningao - Deputy Governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR

At the seminar, representatives of the International Cooperation Department of the State Bank of Vietnam and the Foreign Exchange Management Department of the Bank of the Lao PDR shared about the need to use local currencies of enterprises of the two countries in the context of increasing trade and investment between the two countries. The two sides presented the activities being implemented to promote the use of local currencies in trade and investment, including reviewing and considering amendments to the legal basis as well as developing infrastructure for payments by local currencies between the two countries.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh - General Director of the National Payment Corporation of Vietnam (NAPAS)

Then Mr. Nguyen Quang Minh - General Director of NAPAS introduced the Connection Cooperation Project of QR codes Bilateral Retail Payment between Vietnam and Laos implemented by NAPAS and LAPNET Company under the direction of the Central Banks of the two countries.

According to the leader of NAPAS, after the pilot research process, the phase 1 of service is expected to be implemented in September 2024 and officially provided for the market in the fourth quarter of 2024. The service allows Vietnamese people, when going to Laos, to make payments by scanning Laos QR code at POSs in Laos through the payment application (mobile app) of Vietnamese banks. The phase 2 of the project is continued to be connected by NAPAS and LAPNet Company to expand the scope when Lao people going to Vietnam are able to make payments by scanning the VietQR code at POSs of Vietnamese banks.

Delegates attending the seminar "Promoting payments by local currencies in investment and trade".

The completion of the Connection Cooperation Project of QR codes Bilateral Retail Payment between Vietnam and Laos not only brings many payment conveniences, contributes to promoting cashless payments, but also supports trade activities, economic development, and tourism of the two countries.

Within the framework of the Professional Exchange Program between the two countries, on August 17, 2024, NAPAS coordinated with LAPNet company to organize a workshop to exchange and share professional skills in handling and checking payment transactions, helping to improve the efficiency of operation and deployment of bilateral retail payment connection services via QR codes in the coming time.

Notably, in addition to implementing cross-border payment connection between Vietnam and Laos through the QR code scanning method, NAPAS has been coordinating to deploy cash withdrawal service at ATMs of banks in Vietnam and Laos. Accordingly, for cash withdrawals in Laos, Vietnamese tourists can use NAPAS cards issued by Vietnamese banks (BIDV, Agribank, VRB, SaigonBank, SeABank, ABBank, GPBank, HDBank, VietABank) to withdraw money at the ATM system of Lao-Vietnamese banks. When coming to Vietnam, Laos tourists can also use Lao - Viet Bank cards to withdraw money at ATMs of 16 member banks of the NAPAS network including BIDV, Agribank, VRB, SaigonBank, SeABank, ABBank, GPBank, HDBank, VietABank, ACB, NAB, OJB, PGBank, PVcomBank, VIB, Vietinbank. After many years of implementation, it can be said that the service has brought convenience and speed to people of the two countries, instead of the habit of converting foreign currencies as before.

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The Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in research and pilot implementation of bilateral retail payment connection using QR codes between Vietnam and Laos was signed by NAPAS and LAPNet Company in December 2023 under the witness of the Governors of the Central Banks of the two countries. The cooperation aims to deploy a cross-border payment system using QR codes 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.

VietQR is a common brand identity for QR code payment/transfer services processed through the NAPAS network, member banks, payment intermediary service providers, and payment partners of NAPAS in Vietnam and around the world. 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.