Vietnam-US Investment Promotion Conference: Policy dialogue, opening up investment opportunities

(Baonghean) - From July 1 to 6, 2015, in New York City, USA, the Ministry of Finance coordinated with US partners to organize an Investment Promotion Conference with the message "My Vietnam - Your Investment Destination".This is a financial investment promotion conference, creating a substantive dialogue channel to help US businesses and investors better understand the socio-economic situation, the reform policies and determination of the Vietnamese Government, and strengthen the confidence of US investors in the development potential of the Vietnamese market.

Attending the conference, on the Vietnamese side, Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung and members including Deputy Head of the Government Office Nguyen Sy Hiep, Chairman of the State Securities Commission Vu Bang, representatives of leaders of units under the Ministry of Finance, General Department of Taxation, State Securities Commission and 20 domestic enterprises. Representing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam at the United Nations - Ambassador Nguyen Phuong Nga also attended the conference. On the US side, leading the delegation of the US business community were Vice President of the ASEAN - US Business Community Marc Mealy, Chairman of WL Ross & Co Wilbur L. Ross, Jr., Chairman of Harbinger Fund Philip A Falcone and 150 representatives of investment funds, including large enterprises such as: HSBC, Citigroup, Blackstone, Warburg Pincus, Manulife global...

After 20 years of normalizing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the United States, 15 years of signing the bilateral trade agreement, up to now, the economic - investment - financial - trade cooperation between Vietnam and the United States has always been built and developed. In recent years, many bilateral foreign exchanges in various fields, especially in the financial field, have developed strongly. In particular, during the state visit of President Truong Tan Sang to the United States in 2013, the leaders of the two sides agreed to upgrade the relationship between the two countries to a comprehensive partnership. This investment promotion conference in the United States focused on two areas of dialogue: policy dialogue and dialogue between domestic enterprises and US investors.

Overview of the Conference in the United States.

Speaking at the opening of the conference, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung said that over the past 20 years, the economic - investment - financial - trade cooperation between Vietnam and the United States has been continuously built and developed on the foundation of 20 years of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries. Bilateral foreign exchanges in various fields, especially in the financial field, have grown strongly and continuously in recent years, and the United States has always been one of Vietnam's largest economic - trade and investment partners. As of February 2015, the United States had 729 investment projects in Vietnam with a total capital of about 11 billion USD, ranking 7th out of 101 countries and territories investing directly in Vietnam. The average capital size of a US project is about 15.35 million USD; higher than the average level of a foreign investment project in Vietnam of 14.3 million USD/project.

The Minister emphasized: Over the past 20 years, the Vietnam - US trade relationship has also continuously developed, the scale of Vietnam's exports to the US in 2014 reached nearly 29 billion USD, 36 times higher than in 2000, becoming the largest exporting country of the ASEAN region to the US market and is forecast to increase strongly in the coming years with increasingly high quality of goods and added value. Currently, the relationship between Vietnam and the US is having very favorable developments, so the economic relationship between Vietnam and the US and the potential to attract large capital flows from the US to Vietnam also has many prospects for development. 2015 is an important milestone, marking the 20-year journey of Vietnam - US relations.

The investment promotion conference will be an opportunity to open up new prospects for Vietnam to build a more comprehensive and extensive partnership in the financial and capital market fields between Vietnam and the United States for the mutual benefit of both sides - Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung shared. This is also an opportunity for Vietnamese enterprises to meet directly with potential investors from the United States, and will be a direct and long-term dialogue channel in the future with the ultimate goal of strongly promoting the trade and investment relationship between the two countries, building a comprehensive and extensive partnership in the financial field, as well as bringing cooperation between the two governments to a new level, for the mutual benefit of both sides.

At the conference, in the policy dialogue session, to exchange and update policies between representatives of Vietnamese policymakers and US businesses and investors on policies related to promoting foreign investment in Vietnam in general, promoting indirect investment in the Vietnamese stock market, policies to promote the equitization process of state-owned enterprises associated with listing on the stock market, developing the government bond market, updating and discussing a number of policies related to the financial market within the framework of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). With the aim of approaching and listening to the opinions and sharing of US investors to perfect the policy mechanism. Through this, the Vietnamese Government affirms its policy and determination to innovate, creating an open and favorable business and investment environment for domestic and foreign investors, in which it wants to demonstrate its special commitment to US investors doing business in Vietnam, strengthening investors' confidence in the development potential of the Vietnamese market as well as the Vietnamese Government's appreciation for US businesses and investors.

In the second session with the theme: Domestic enterprises with investors, the dialogue space between domestic enterprises and investors was expanded through the sharing of successful lessons from US enterprises that have been operating in the Vietnamese financial market as well as the sharing of Vietnamese enterprises (listed companies, joint stock companies) with US investors about investment opportunities in Vietnam and the role of foreign investors, thereby drawing out solutions, contributing to creating a healthy, equal, open and favorable investment environment for enterprises and investors participating in the Vietnamese stock market.

The content of these bilateral exchanges will be updated in our next issue.

Red River