Sumitomo Mitsui encouraged to invest in Vietnam’s infrastructure

Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue meets with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). (Photo: VGP)

Sumitomo Mitsu is currently holding 15 percent of the charter capital of the Vietnam Export-Import Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Eximbank) and used to support Japanese and Vietnamese businesses with capital and financial services.

It has expressed the intention of expanding operations in small- and medium-sized enterprises development and infrastructure building in the country.

At the meeting in Hanoi on May 3, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue applauded Sumitomo Mitsui’s investment and business partnership in Vietnam.

He elaborated about 700km of a north-south expressway is set to be built in the country from now to 2020, and the construction will cost some 200 trillion VND (8.8 billion USD). SMBC and other investors from Vietnam and other countries can make investment in the form of public-private partnership.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue also voiced his hope that with its experience in financial management, SMBC will help turn Eximbank into a strong credit organisation and further take part in the equitisation and restructuring of State-owned enterprises in Vietnam.

For his part, SMBC Managing Director Ryuji Nishisaki said his firm is interested in the restructuring of credit organisations in Vietnam and will keep working to successfully restructure Eximbank in the near future.

He also highly valued Vietnam’s development of the derivatives market and the bond market to diversify capital mobilisation channels. SMBC is ready to send its affiliates working in securities to enter the derivatives market of Vietnam, he added.