Establishing international financial center in Vietnam a wise decision: Tony Blair

The establishment of an international financial center in Ho Chi Minh City and a regional financial center in Danang is a very wise decision as it will strongly support Vietnam's development process and open up many new opportunities, including prospects for cooperation, said Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister.

Blair, now chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), made the statement in a Monday meeting with Vietnam's standing Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh during the latter's visit to the UK.

He highlighted the country's economic achievements, potential for cooperation, and attractiveness to foreign investors as favorable conditions for the establishment of such centers.

The TBI is an institute that provides policy and development stragegy consultancy for governments with activities in over 30 countries.

Blair noted that great changes in the global geoeconomic and geopolitical situations are posing both challenges and opportunities, and thus, countries need to make the most of opportunities to achieve development goals and minimize negative impacts.

The former PM affirmed that he will continue to actively and extensively support and accompany Vietnamese authorities in the process of establishing and operating the financial centers and in other economic activities.

The TBI has closely cooperated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (now the Ministry of Finance), and the Ministry of Industry and Trade in enhancing economic diplomacy capacity, promoting investment-trade cooperation with international partners, developing an international financial center in Vietnam, and promoting investment.

Specifically, the TBI has supported the MPI in a number of key areas, including compiling a report on the current situation of and strategy for attracting high-quality FDI in the electronics sector and researching models of international financial centers to support the process of building such centers in Vietnam.

Standing Deputy PM Nguyen Hoa Binh thanked Blair for his very practical contributions to fostering and developing the good cooperative relationship in all fields between Vietnam and the UK during his time as UK Prime Minister and in recent times.

Binh noted that given the world and regional turbulences, he hopes that Blair and the TBI will continue to provide policy advice to Vietnam in making development strategies, changing the mindset of law-making, and building policy mechanisms to ensure the openness and friendliness of the business climate, especially in attracting investors in emerging fields such as green economy, renewable energy, AI, and semiconductors.

Vietnam's international financial center project aims to attract international investors, facilitate capital markets and derivatives markets, strengthen the financial infrastructure of HCMC, and test sandbox mechanisms.

According to the Government's plan, the HCMC financial center will be established and put into operation from 2025 and completed within 5 years.