In the afternoon of August 18, Deputy Minister of Finance Vo Thanh Hung met with Mr. Kairat Kelimbetov - President of Astana International Finance Center of Kazakhstan (AIFC) on the establishment and promotion of bilateral financial cooperation, especially in the fields of financial technology, the capital market and securities market. Representatives of the State Securities Commission, Department of Banking and Financial Institutions, Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Finance) and representatives of the Embassy of Kazakhstan also attended the meeting.
Deputy Minister Vo Thanh Hung spoke at the meeting
Noting the good and long-standing traditional relations between Vietnam and Kazakhstan, Deputy Minister Vo Thanh Hung emphasized that up to now, Kazakhstan has provided practical support to Vietnam especially regarding human resources development.
Sharing the highlights of the overall picture of Vietnam's economy, Deputy Minister Vo Thanh Hung said that in recent years, the Vietnam’s economy has made positive changes. In that process, the development of financial markets is one of the important pillars. Regarding capital market development, up to now, Vietnam's securities market has had a history of 22 years of formation and development. The size of the securities market currently accounts for about 93-94% of GDP. There are about 40-50 companies with capital size over USD 1 billion; 3-5 companies with capital scale of over USD 10 billion.
"However, Vietnam's securities market is still a frontier market, and we are striving to make Vietnam's securities market an emerging market within the next 1-2 years." – said Deputy Minister Vo Thanh Hung.
Regarding orientations in building the digital economy, including building a digital government, the Deputy Minister said that Vietnam has built a database of industries, is working to further connect the data, especially focusing on the connection of financial data and other data.
The Deputy Minister also frankly acknowledged that currently, Vietnam's GDP per capita is only one third that of Kazakhstan. In order to achieve the goal of being classified as a middle-income country by 2040, Vietnam will focus on economic development orientations, including the development of the digital economy and the green economy.
Mr. Kairat Kelimbetov - President of Astana International Financial Center (AIFC)
speaking at the meeting
The Prime Minister of Vietnam also made a commitment at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference, to move Vietnam towards the goal of being carbon neutral by 2050. To achieve this goal. Vietnam will focus on developing renewable energy. Currently, renewable energy in Vietnam only accounts for 13-15% of the total national energy. Achieving this goal is both a huge challenge in terms of technology and funding.
In terms of infrastructure, in the context of very deep economic integration, the infrastructure of seaports, logistics, airports, roads and railways of Vietnam still needs huge investments. Besides, the need to improve the quality of human resources in the coming time is also a focus set by the Government.
“The Vietnam’s economy is demanding huge resources. Besides domestic resources, we also call for external investment resources. We want to establish a regional international financial center in Vietnam, maybe in Ho Chi Minh City first. During the construction process, Vietnam will certainly have to learn from international experiences, including those of Kazakhstan, "- the Deputy Minister expressed.
Overview of the next session
Speaking at the meeting, Mr. Kairat Kelimbetov - Chairman of Astana International Finance Center of Kazakhstan (AIFC) shared that this morning, the Foreign Ministers of Vietnam and Kazakhstan had a meeting and agreed to strengthen cooperation on education. The two sides have many favorable conditions to develop cooperation in this field.
Sharing Vietnam's desire to develop, upgrade the capital market, Mr. Kairat Kelimbetov said that recently Kazakhstan has also made quite a lot of progress and believes that the two countries will have active cooperation, especially in areas such as the digital economy, renewable energy and the green economy.
“We are also very interested in green finance and also think that Vietnam's goal of being carbon neutral by 2050 is ambitious, however, it can be done.” - Chairman AIFC President emphasized.
HP