Vietnam to facilitate more investments from S Korea: minister

Vietnam welcomes South Korean enterprises and investors to make fresh investments and expand operations, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc said at a conference in Seoul Thursday.

His ministry will also facilitate investments by Vietnamese enterprises in South Korea, Phoc said.

Nearly 300 Vietnamese and Korean companies, including financial institutions, banks, investment funds and securities firms, participated in the conference.

On the basis of the comprehensive strategic partnership established in 2022, the two countries aim to increase bilateral trade to $150 billion by 2030, from nearly $80 billion in 2023, in a more balanced and sustainable manner.

Towards achieving this goal, the finance ministry and the Korean embassy in Hanoi should organize a dialogue annually to receive comments and handle petitions in the financial sector from Korean firms, Phoc said.

He touted Vietnam as an attractive destination for both direct and indirect investment, characterized by high economic growth, well-controlled inflation, low public debt, and sovereign rating upgrade by Fitch Ratings to “BB+” last year.

The Vietnamese government was striving to get its stock market status upgraded from “frontier” to “emerging,” Phoc noted.

The stock market had total capitalization of nearly $270 billion as of end-February, or 63% of the country’s GDP. It has more than 1,600 stocks and fund certificates listed and publicly traded. There are 7.4 million securities trading accounts, equivalent to 7.2% of the population.

Kim Yong Jae, member of the Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC), noted that there were some 9,000 Korean companies operating in Vietnam, including 46 in the sectors of banking, insurance, and securities.

The FSC will increase cooperation and share its experience with Vietnamese authorities, and promote further investment by firms of two countries, he said.

There are eight South Korean securities companies and three fund management firms present in Vietnam, according to Vietnam’s State Securities Commission (SSC).

The conference also discussed the growth potential of sectors in Vietnam’s stock market, the need for sustainable and green finance, as well as investment experiences in Vietnam’s financial market.

On the conference’s sidelines, SSC chairwoman Vu Thi Chan Phuong and Korea Financial Investment Association (KOFIA) chairman Yoo Seok Seo signed a memorandum of understanding on consultancy and technical assistance.