KTFA:

Samson:  Vietnam : Digital transformation plays a vital role in development

15th October, 2021
Digital transformation has become indispensable trend of every country since 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the process around the world.

The comments was made by Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Phan Tâm during a ministerial-level roundtable discussion themed “Cutting the cost: Can affordable access accelerate digital transformation?” which took place on Wednesday within the framework of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s Digital World 2021. 

He suggested countries pay more attention to affordable access and developing digital platforms which could be considered infrastructure in the digital world.

According to Tâm, it is necessary to digitalise socio-economic activities and bring them to digital platforms.

Speaking at the meeting, Secretary-General of the ITU Houlin Zhao said Việt Nam is a good model in telecom infrastructure development that countries could learn from. Zhao said Việt Nam has been working with countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America on promoting telecommunication development despite the low profitability and often being ignored by investors. He added to date, more than half of the world is connected via IT and telecom technologies. However, success only comes when the rest of the world gains access to the internet at an affordable price.

To realise this target, Zhao called for the world to focus on investing in telecom infrastructure via greater incentives and strong partnerships between countries.

At the conference, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Transport, Communications and High Technologies Rashad Nabiyev suggested governments should be the backbone in countries’ efforts to promote digitalisation.

With incentive policies and through public-private partnerships (PPP), governments may further attract private investment in digital infrastructure, Nabiyev added.

Minister of Science, Technology, and Telecommunications of Costa Rica Paola Vega Castillo said her country was working on a five-year telecommunication strategy for the private sector to play a greater role in the digitalisation process. From this process, businesses would benefit under the PPP model, she said.

Sharing the idea, Vietnamese Minister of Information and Communications Nguyễn Mạnh Hùng told participants that for every country, the success of digital transformation would depend on leaders at the highest level. The minister said: “Leaders have to make the difficult choice of restructuring the entire operation and reallocate resources, including the workforce, to embark on the digitalisation process."

In Việt Nam, digitalisation is centered around the development of the digital economy, society, and Government, with digital infrastructure playing a key part in this process. “Việt Nam strives to ensure 100 per cent of people have access to the internet by late 2021. The country is in the process of testing 5G networks, with preparation being accelerated to commercialise the network by 2022.”

At the ministerial-level roundtable on the same theme on Tuesday, Hùng said in order to promote internet access, Việt Nam will shut down its 2G network by 2023. The Vietnamese Government and telecom providers will fund the use of 4G network for 2G mobile phone users, meaning that all phone users will be ready for internet access by 2023.

At the conference, participants also shared experience in digital transformation, resources to develop information and communications technology, and ways to develop digital transformation effectively. They discussed ways to deal with barriers regarding residents’ affordability for telecom services, policies and measures to minimise costs. The three day conference concluded yesterday. 

VIDEO - A Digital World/Thế giới số    LINK

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Samson:  The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds a virtual workshop on Buna's interoperability initiatives and way forward

15th October, 2021

The workshop is hosting speakers from the Bank of Italy, Visa and the Pan African Payment and Settlement System

More than 200 senior officials will attend the workshop, representing central banks and a wide spectrum of regional and global financial institutions

 Abu Dhabi, 14 October 2021: The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) holds today, Thursday October 14, 2021, a workshop to elaborate on Buna’s (the cross-border payment system owned by the AMF) different initiatives to push the frontiers of cross-border payments and improve interoperability models in collaboration with operators of payment networks and market infrastructures.

During this workshop, guest speakers representing, the Bank of Italy, Visa and the Pan African Payment and Settlement system (PAPSS) will share their different experiences with Buna, and their views on the added value that strategic framework of cooperation between payment systems can bring to enhance cross-border payments across the globe.

The workshop will host more than 200 senior officials representing central banks, along with various institutions from the financial, banking and payment sectors in the region and beyond, seeking valuable information on Buna’s recent plans and developments.

At this occasion, Mehdi Manaa, Chief Executive Officer of Buna said: “Buna continue pushing the frontiers of cross-border payment and exploring creative models of payment systems interoperability. Our successful interoperability experiment with TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) in collaboration with the Bank of Italy, was a proof of the possibility to execute cross-border, cross-currency, cross-system payments transactions in a matter of seconds, when appropriate technology and proper frameworks of collaboration are in place.”

Mehdi added: “Building bridges with major trade partners of the Arab world, is key in delivering Buna’s vision to support the empowerment of the Arab economies and positively contribute to financial integration and support the growth of commercial and investment ties between the Arab region and the rest of the world.

We previously announced our plans to set the foundation for a fruitful interoperability with payment systems in Asia and we are looking to realize the same strategic goal in Africa. We are confident that interoperability with international players in the payment landscape, is a viable tool that can support Buna ongoing efforts to broaden the coverage of its services and products and better serve the financial and payment community in the Arab region and beyond.”

Buna, is a cross-border payment system owned by the Arab Monetary Fund, aiming to enable financial institutions and central banks in the Arab region and beyond to send and receive payments in local currencies as well as key international currencies in a safe, cost- effective, risk-controlled, and transparent environment. Buna offers participants modern payment solutions that comply with international standards, principles, and compliance requirements.

Thanks to its cross-border payment system Buna contributes to exploring and strengthening
opportunities for economic and financial integration in the Arab region and supporting investment ties with the global trading partners. Buna welcomes the inclusion of all banks that meet the criteria and conditions for participation, primarily the standards and procedures of compliance aspects.  LINK

Courtesy of Dinar Guru

Pimpy  Article: "The International Monetary Fund expects significant growth in the Iraqi economy and decline in inflation in 2022"  Heck yeah that's what we want to see.  The IMF is predicting that Iraq's economy will improve by 10.5% next year.  That's awesome .  And there will be a decrease in inflation by 4.5%.  That's exactly the type of thing we are looking for.  This is going in the right direction...when you want to talk about things to look for indicators that their currency is going to grow in value these are some biggies right here...this is great news...it's looking really good for Iraq.

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MarkZ Friday Night Update:

TNT:

Mot:  --- UH OH!!! ~~~ Gunna Happen fur Sure this Time! ~~~

Mot: --- ornery little Critter he is!! ~~~