Oman Investment Authority to expand investment fund in Vietnam

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has proposed Oman to enlarge the Vietnam-Oman Investment Fund (VOI) to $1 billion to better cater for the Southeast Asian country's investment needs.

Chinh made the proposal while receiving Nasser Sulaiman Al Harthy, Vice President for Operations at Oman Investment Authority (OIA) in Hanoi on Thursday.

In response, the executive said that OIA pledged to further strengthen cooperation with Vietnamese partners and expand VOI.

The Vietnamese cabinet leader said that Oman is one of the leading potential partners in the Middle East and there is still a lot of room for expanding Vietnam-Oman cooperation.

He added that he highly appreciates the strategic, efficient and pioneering role of the fund over the past 17 years of operation in Vietnam.

VOI's activities demonstrate a long-term vision, sustainable investment thinking, and commitment to accompany Vietnam's socio-economic development, with a transparent, focused and selective investment approach, the Prime Minister added.

Emphasizing the fund's investments have not only created economic values but also contributed to improving public services, social infrastructure and people’s quality of life, the PM proposed Oman expand the fund to $1 billion to better support Vietnam’s development needs, in line with its economic scale and with interest rates suitable to Vietnam’s conditions.

He suggested the fund not only support and invest in strategic fields such as infrastructure transport, clean water, renewable energy, healthcare, education, and consumer finance, but also bolster Vietnam’s private economic development, agriculture industry and Halal food sector.

Chinh expressed confidence that with strategic partners like Oman, the two countries will build a deeper, more effective and sustainable cooperation relationship.

For his part, Nasser Sulaiman Al Harthy emphasized Oman’s focus on enhancing cooperation with Vietnam, especially in investment which has high potential for further collaboration and is bright spot in the bilateral relation.

OIA has cooperated with Vietnam's State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) to establish the "Vietnam New Era Growth Fund", with a minimum capital of $200 million.

Nasser Sulaiman Al Harthy affirmed that the fund will prioritize investment in potential areas such as technology, telecommunications, finance, Halal agriculture, and digital transformation in Vietnam, contributing to enhancing bilateral trade.

He stressed that OIA commits to further strengthening cooperation with Vietnamese partners, encourage more Oman and Middle Eastern enterprises to explore cooperation opportunities in Vietnam, and call on Vietnamese businesses to leverage Oman’s port system to boost exports to the Middle East.

Vietnam-Oman Investment Fund (VOI) is the first inter-governmental investment fund between Vietnam and a Gulf country, with founding members being SCIC and OIA.

VOI has invested in diverse fields such as infrastructure, energy, industry, finance, education, healthcare, and real estate. Some notable deals include investments in pharmaceutical group Aikya, Van Phu Invest JSC (VPI), consumer finance F88, Van Lang University, and CME Solar.