Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh works with Singapore's Ambassador to Vietnam

Ambassador Jaya Ratnam thanked Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh for taking the time to welcome him and said that established in 1996 as a flagship project by the governments of Vietnam and Singapore, Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) is a provider of fully integrated manufacturing environment to international manufacturers. The joint venture project by Becamex IDC Corporation (a Vietnamese state-owned enterprise) and SembCorp Industries (the majority Singapore consortium shareholder) has attracted 230 international manufacturers from 22 countries with investments of more than US$1.4 billion. Located in Binh Duong Province, the 500-hectare industrial park is home to tenants such as Avon, Diethelm, Kimberly-Clark, Konica, Nitto Denko and Roche. Considering as a successful symbol in the Vietnam-Singapore strategic relationship, the 12 VSIP parks currently in northern, central and southern Vietnam have attracted 18 billion USD in investments and created 300,000 jobs. Singapore has invested in thousands of projects in the country over the last 50 years. In 2022, 108 countries and territories invested in Vietnam, led by Singapore with nearly 6.46 billion USD, accounting for 23.3% of total FDI Vietnam lured in the year.

Singapore's Ambassador to Vietnam Jaya Ratnam

According to Ambassador Jaya Ratnam, the recent official visit to Singapore by H.E. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation from February 8 to 10, 2023, aims to affirm both nations’ desire to take their economic connectivity to new heights in the context of a series of new-generation free trade agreements (FTAs) coming into effect and being implemented. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the Vietnam - Singapore Business Forum, which attracted more than 600 delegates, reflecting the great faith and interest that Singaporean business community and investors have in Vietnam.

Ambassador Jaya Ratnam expressed his optimism about the potential development of economic relations between Vietnam and Singapore in many new fields. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong witnessed the signing and hand-over of cooperation documents, including an MoU on the establishment of the Vietnam-Singapore partnership on digital economy and green economy. Green development is indeed a common challenge for both Vietnam and Singapore, both of which have the same ambition to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“Challenges and ambitions make it possible for the two countries to work together to support each other and move forward together. We also realized digital cooperation as great potential for both sides to enhance cooperation, meeting the digital transformation challenges facing both societies. Singapore partners, in addition, can seek further investment potential in Vietnam such as logistics and renewable energy”, emphasized Ambassador Jaya Ratnam. On this occasion, Ambassador Jaya Ratnam expressed his wish that the Singapore Embassy in Vietnam can play a role as a bridge assisting Singaporean businesses to seek opportunities with state-owned enterprises under the CMSC.

Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh praised the cooperation between the two, stating that 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and 10th anniversary of strategic partnership between Singapore and Vietnam. “Singapore plays an important role in Vietnam’s FDI attraction, ranking first among South East Asia investors in Vietnam over the years. Singaporean investment projects have focused mostly on the Vietnamese manufacturing and processing sector, real estate, and electricity generation. Most are large-scale”, said Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh.

Chairman of the Commission for the Management of State Capital at Enterprises Nguyen Hoang Anh

Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh expressed his deep impression with the enthusiastic support of Singaporean partners who welcomed and organized working sessions and training programs for CMSC’s senior officials and enterprises under CMSC leaders in December 2022. Within the framework of the above programs, the meetings with Sembcorp Industries and Temasek Holdings, which are on a sustainable corporate governance framework, especially international experiences in senior governance in state-owned enterprises after equitization and applicability in Vietnam, are a valuable opportunity for the CMSC and its state-owned enterprises to gain experiences in governance, especially in the context that the world is transitioning into sustainable development.

According to Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh, CMSC is a government agency; is designated by the Government to exercise rights and take on duties as the owner’s representative to wholly state-owned enterprises and state capital invested in joint-stock companies and multi-member limited liability companies in accordance with laws. CMSC shall exercise rights and take on duties as the owner's representative to enterprises in accordance with laws on use and management of state capital invested in manufacturing and business operations of enterprises; comply with regulations on financial management for enterprises and mechanism for financial supervision of enterprises of which CMSC acts as the owner’s representative.

Regarding cooperation opportunities in the energy sector, Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh stated that in the 2020 Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the Vietnamese government estimates total greenhouse gas emissions to be 528.4 million tons of CO2 in 2020 and 726.2 million tons in 2030. Emissions from the energy sector are considered to be the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in Vietnam, accounting for about 65.8% in 2020 and 73.1% in 2030.

In fact, Vietnam Electricity (EVN), Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) and Vietnam National Coal and Minerals Industries Group (Vinacomin) are three main state-owned enterprises with a production capacity of about approx. 60% of the country's electricity output, of which coal-fired power is still accounting for the largest proportion of the total installed capacity in Vietnam, nearly 32% by 2021. The application of energy transition for Vietnam's energy sector, as a result, is urgent to fulfill the Government's commitment to realize the roadmap towards net zero emissions by 2050.

According to Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh, as an government agency which is designated by the Government to exercise rights and take on duties as the owner’s representative to state-owned enterprises in energy sector including EVN, Petrovietnam and Vinacomin, the CMSC has recently implemented a number of activities to facilitate support for state-owned enterprises in energy sector to build a roadmap towards net zero emissions by 2050, following the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister at Decision No. 1658/QD-TTg dated October 01, 2021 on approval for National green growth strategy for 2021 – 2030 period, with a vision by 2050.

The CMSC has been supporting its affiliated energy enterprises to build a roadmap towards the aim of zero emissions. In which, the target is to build an appropriate roadmap to support EVN, Petrovietnam and Vinacomin to meet the requirements of commitment to reducing emissions, while to ensure national energy security. The CMSC considers this as one of the priority activities to support state-owned energy enterprises in the process of researching and shifting towards sustainability, improving governance capacity, enhancing business efficiency, building roadmap to convert coal-fired power, and at the same time create conditions to promote the clean energy market to develop transparently and reliably.

Regarding the potential of cooperation in digital transformation and logistics, Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh remarked that In the group of businesses under the Commission, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) and MobiFone Telecommunications Corporation are among the largest enterprises in the field of telecommunications and technology, leading digital transformation in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Vietnam Maritime Corporation (VIMC) over the years has had cooperative relationships with Singaporean partners, promoting multimodal transportation, contributing to improving supply chain efficiency. Chairman Nguyen Hoang Anh tasked the functional departments of CMSC to coordinate with the Singapore Embassy to exchange information and seek cooperation opportunities between Vietnamese and Singaporean businesses in the near future.