(MPI) - Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung hosted a reception for Tony Blair, former UK Prime Minister and Executive Chairman of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), in Hanoi on April 16.

At the meeting. Photo: MPI

Minister Dung highly appreciated the support and cooperation of Blair and his colleagues with the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) over the past time, and proposing a number of priority areas for continued assistance from the TBI such as consulting on the establishment of regional and international financial centres in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Attract, promoting high-quality investment in Vietnam, and doing business with the MPI’s National Innovation Centre (NIC) in semiconductor industry and artificial intelligence (AI).

Minister Dung said Vietnam is actively implementing three strategic breakthroughs, which are comprehensive improvement of institutions, the development of a high-quality workforce associated with science and technology, innovation, cultural values, and people; the construction of modern infrastructure,  especially strategic ones; and the improvement of investment climate and administrative procedures.

The country has continuously improved institutions and incentives to attract investment in the new foreign direct investment (FDI) wave. The minister said Vietnam hopes that Blair and the TBI will share experiences helping Vietnam attract new, high-quality FDI projects with new policies encouraging more investors in the context of the global minimum tax by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been applied.

Regarding developing international financial centres in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Minister Dung thanked the TBI Institute for their initial research and hoped them continue to assist and share experiences with Vietnam to build financial centres in accordance with international practices and the country’s characteristics to operating effectively.

He proposed the TBI continue to research and offer advice to Vietnam to attract new-generation investment such as international financial centre, AI, semiconductor industry, clean energy and green growth. The minister also asked the TBI increase cooperation with the MPI’s NIC in some major areas such as smart factories, smart cities, digital content, cybersecurity, semiconductor industry, environmental technology, hydrogen technology and medical technology.

For his part, Blair expressed his delight to return to Vietnam and receive warm welcome by Minister Dung. He shared some more information and suggested some ideas to help Vietnam attract investment, build international financial centres, and develop the semiconductor industry and AI applications while expressing his belief on Vietnam’s rapid growth in the time ahead.

He said the TBI and personally himself agreed with the minister’s proposals, and committed accompany Vietnam in the areas mentioned above. He affirmed his readiness to coordinate with Vietnam, contributing to further strengthening investment cooperation between the two countries./.

Bao Linh

Ministry of Planning and Investment