Vietnam News Agency (VNA)

NYSE visit marks State President’s second day in US

20/06/2007 -- 7:43 PM

New York (VNA) - State President Nguyen Minh Triet continued his US visit on June 19 by dropping in at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE Euronext) and witnessing a deal between the HCM City Securities Trading Centre and the world's largest exchange.

President Triet told the NYSE Euronext executive board that Viet Nam is giving priority to comprehensive economic reforms on the basis of Viet Nam’s commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international agreements.

He also highlighted the growing role that the stock exchange plays in the Vietnamese economy, saying that stock markets since 2000 have emerged as a long-term capital channel for an economy moving towards sustainable development.

“Viet Nam is looking for active support and assistance from US partners in this field. Viet Nam also hopes that stock markets from the two countries will set up strategic partnerships in the near future so as to turn Viet Nam’s capital market into a regional hub in the interest of the two countries,” emphasised the State President.

Deputy Chairman of the NYSE Euronext board, Marshall Carter, said he believed that with Viet Nam’s recent WTO membership, trade relations between Viet Nam and the US would continue to further develop.

He also said NYSE Euronext is willing to help Viet Nam in developing and managing stock exchange transactions as what it is doing with other Asian-based exchanges.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Ho Chi Minh City Securities Centre would act as a stronger bridge to span the fledgling Vietnamese bourse with the global capital market, including the NYSE Euronext, said Marshall.

The same day, President Triet met with Citigroup Inc. Chairman and CEO Charles Prince and Ford Foundation President Susan Berresford on separate occasions, who visited the Vietnamese leader at his hotel suite.

In his meeting with the Citigroup chief, President Triet applauded the world’s largest financier for its active role in speeding up normalisations of Viet Nam-US relations, especially during negotiations on the Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) and the Permanent Normal Trade Relations status.

He pointed out that Viet Nam’s WTO membership as well as its further international integration and fast growing economy would mark an opportunity for Citigroup and other international investors to expand business in the Southeast Asian market.

Citigroup should work out a strategic vision on Viet Nam for stronger investment by itself and in association with its international partners as well, said the State President.

“ Vietnamese enterprises are going to launch a series of bond issuances and shares abroad, so they are in need of assistance from major banking institutions such as Citigroup,” he said.

The President also lauded the world’s largest company for not only its business but also its humanitarian work, including projects on poverty alleviation and healthcare, in Viet Nam.

“I believe that bilateral cooperation in this arena would continue to further develop,” concluded the Vietnamese leader.

Regarding the upcoming issuance of Governmental bonds abroad, the Citigroup executive evaluated it as a major step forward by Viet Nam in integrating into the global financial market.

With its international finance and capital mobilising prestige as well as its Viet Nam experiences, Citigroup expects to be one of strongest candidates in the bid for issuing the Vietnamese Governmental bonds in the global market, Charles Prince said.

He also looked for Viet Nam’s support for Citigroup to take part in the process of equitising State-owned enterprises, especially those dealing with finance and banking.

Their talks were followed by the signing of credit contracts worth almost 500 million USD for Citigroup loans for the Electricity of Viet Nam Corporation (EVN), the Viet Nam Coal and Mineral Group and the Viet Nam Shipping Corporation Vinalines.

In his meeting with the Ford Foundation President, Susan Berresford, State President Triet said Vietnamese agencies have expressed satisfaction at the quality and efficiency of Ford Foundation-funded projects in various fields, ranging from financial management to poverty reduction, education and HIV/AIDS.

He went on to praise the Ford Foundation for being a vanguard among US organisations in providing assistance to Viet Nam in resolving the Agent Orange dioxin aftermath.

“We expect that the Ford Foundation will work with other US organisations and individuals as well as lobby US politicians in increasing support for Viet Nam in this field,” said the State leader.

He also expected that the US non-Governmental organisation would gear its aid ties to Viet Nam to broader dimensions including infrastructure development and research.

For her part, Berresford confirmed the Ford Foundation’s long-term policy in relations with Viet Nam, focusing on humanitarian projects to solve the dioxin consequence.

The Ford Foundation and relevant Vietnamese agencies should set up an authority on dioxin problems for better cooperation in bringing aid projects to benefit victims, the humanitarian activist proposed.

Also on June 19, President Triet met with respresentatives from the US Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USAITA) at its Headquarters in New York. He also received a delegation of Vietnamese-Canadians who came to the US to pay a courtesy visit to the President and granted an interview to US TV channel Bloomberg on economic and financial issues and several other US and international media agencies.--Enditem

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