SINGAPORE: On Tuesday (Jan 21), an analyst said that Vietnam may become an international financial hub like Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates. Roger Leitner, Chairman and CEO of the Swiss Asian Chamber of Commerce, said this could be accomplished by fostering digital asset development and working with local private banks, the Vietnamese online news site VnExpress reported.
Mr Leitner said this at a discussion on high-tech investments in Vietnam attended by more than 30 people from different international firms at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinhm, and senior Vietnamese leaders attended this year’s WEF. In November last year, the country’s highest decision-making body approved the establishment of an international financial centre in Ho Chi Minh City and a regional financial centre in Danang.
At the discussion in Davos, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung underlined that the country is committed to establishing financial centres at par with global criteria, saying the government aims to provide what investors deem necessary.
One of the ministry’s proposals involves controlled trials for fintech endeavours such as digital asset and cryptocurrency exchanges in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City. In keeping with the government’s target of double-digit economic growth, the ministry will emphasize AI, digital transformation, semiconductors, and education.
Last month, the US tech company Nvidia signed an agreement with the Vietnamese government to establish the Vietnam Research and Development Center (VRDC), an AI research and development centre and an AI data centre in the country. Ambassador Hoang Anh Tuan, the consul general of the Vietnam Consulate General in San Francisco, said it would be one of Nvidia’s three world-class AI R&D centers, the other two being Silicon Valley and Taiwan.
Nvidia also recently acquired VinBrain, the AI subsidiary of Vingroup, the Vietnamese conglomerate headquartered in Hanoi.
At the Davos discussion, the French technology giant Schneider Electric said it was eager to participate in Nvidia’s endeavours in Vietnam. Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider’s chairman, noted that foreign investors would help Vietnam achieve its goals.
Meanwhile, Kim Fejer, the CEO of A. P. Moller Capital, proposed that the ceiling for non-Vietnamese ownership for projects in airports and seaports be raised from their current caps of 30 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively, adding that A. P. Moller is looking to invest in such projects in Vietnam.
The featured photo of Ho Chi Minh City above is by Lê Minh Phát./TISG