PM Phuc expects huge investments from Australia

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets Brendan Sawyers, Webjet CEO, in Sydney on March 16. Source: VNA

His statement comes after the newly established strategic partnership of which the two countries are the members.

Phúc said the partnership would provide a favourable environment for Australian investors to enter Việt Nam faster and would create a crucial foundation for Việt Nam and Australia to lift their cross-the-board co-operation to the next level.

He said this at a working session with leading financial groups and investors from both Australia and Vietnam in Sydney on March 16.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister is currently on an official visit to Australia.

The session was presided by 12 groups, finance investment funds and businesses managing an investment capital of worth over US$500 billion with keen interests in the Vietnamese market, along with nine prestigious financial groups of Vietnam. The session was organised by VinaCapital and Macquarie Group.

Macquarie Group Chairman Peter Warne showed great interest in Vietnam’s priorities in infrastructure development. He said Vietnam was urbanising strongly and thus its need for infrastructure, roads, transport and electricity was high.

Meanwhile, VinaCapital CEO Don Lam said the Vietnamese government had made great efforts to reform institutions and speed upequitisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs). He hailed the Vietnamese Prime Minister for actively working to draw businesses and investment into the country.

He said, as a result, Vietnam’s business and investment environment had improved considerably, and the country’s market had become more attractive to international investors.

PM Phuc welcomed the Australian groups’ interests in Vietnam and spoke highly of the organisation of the session by VinaCapital and Macquarie.

He told investors that 2017 was a successful year for Vietnam as the country posted a growth rate of 6.81 per cent, a record high in many years, maintained a stable exchange rate, soundly reined in inflation and achieved a record foreign reserve. The country also attracted $37 billion in foreign direct investment, the highest in a decade, and its stock market achieved a growth rate of 48 per cent, one of the highest rates in the global market.

PM affirmed that the Vietnamese government had undertaken many policies to ensure the sustainable development of the economy and safeguarding of the rights and benefits of investors.

He further said Vietnam had targeted to achieve a fast but sustainable growth on the basis of defending the rights of people and investors, and that the country had been persistent in pursuing the goal of building a facilitating, transparent and efficient government and continuing to improve the investment and business environment to meet OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) standards.

He also told investors that the country would continue transforming its growth model, restructuring its economy, SOEs, human resources and other sectors.

“Vietnam s concentrating on developing a sustainable and healthy finance market that is friendly to investors,” he added.

The country has so far signed 12 free trade agreements and the latest Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership with Australia and is negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership with the aim of forming a large market to attract investors.

During the intensive and extensive economic integration, Vietnam had unceasingly worked to facilitate the development of the private economy, the PM told investors.

At the session, Phuc, along with ministry and sector officials from Vietnam, fielded questions pertaining to Vietnam's foreign investment attraction and agriculture development policies as well as its priorities in infrastructure development.

Later, Phuc will chair the Vietnam-Australia Business Forum.