SCIC meeting with Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) concludes with new prospective investment opportunities

HANOI, Viet Nam, November 8, 2023 – At SCIC’s headquarters, Chairman of the Board of SCIC, Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh had a working meeting with the delegation of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Attending the meeting, on SCIC's side, were Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Directors and heads of SCIC’s functional departments. On QIA's side, there was Mr. Faisal Abbas – Head of Strategic & Direct Investments of Asia and MENA, Mr. Nasser Al Attiyah - Strategic & Direct Investments Professional, and Mr. Ahmed Abdulaziz Aljehani – Embassy of the State of Qatar in Viet Nam.

SCIC Chairman working with QIA delegation

Beginning his talk with the QIA delegation, SCIC Chairman Nguyen Chi Thanh updated the partners about SCIC's recent business performance. Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh also expressed his delight about the results achieved from the exchange between him and the CEO of QIA regarding the last SCIC business trip to Qatar in March 2023. The business trip has suggested prospects for cooperation between the two sides, helping to promote SCIC-QIA bilateral relations. Subsequently, Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh expressed hopes that QIA will support SCIC to better connect with Qatari investors to better understand their investment appetite, approach, investment methods and fields that Qatar is interested in to have further discussions on specific cooperation agreements.

In the context of the Vietnamese market, the Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh introduced to the QIA delegation a number of cooperation opportunities between Qatari investors and Vietnamese businesses in general and cooperation with SCIC in particular. According to Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, QIA may consider the possibility of investing in Viet Nam through: Participating in buying business shares from SCIC's divestment list; or jointly invest in projects in areas of mutual interest. Some investment fields discussed by both sides at the meeting include: infrastructure, airports, seaports, logistics, digital transformation, information technology, big data... At the same time, the SCIC Chairman also revealed to QIA representatives a number of potential large projects in Vietnam's seaport sector such as Cai Mep Ha Seaport Project (Vung Tau Province), Can Gio Seaport Project... and pledged to support investors from Qatar connect with businesses managing these projects to find out more information as needed.

Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, SCIC Chairman of the Board presenting investment projects to QIA

The sectors of semiconductor manufacturing and digital transformation are also some of the topics that both sides were interested in and spent time discussing. Some large Vietnamese enterprises in the industry such as Viettel, FPT, FPT Telecom (capital managed by SCIC), that have been in leading positions and produced great results in Viet Nam were cited as Qatar's potential partners in identifying and accessing investment cooperation opportunities.

To strengthen the cooperative relationship between SCIC and Qatari partners in the coming time, Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh asked QIA to consider a number of proposals: Signing an extension to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SCIC; researching shares in SCIC's divestment portfolio; considering the possibility of establishing a joint investment fund between SCIC and QIA to jointly invest in projects that meet the parties' criteria, etc. Chairman Nguyen Chi Thanh also affirmed that SCIC is ready to act as a conduit to support and create favorable conditions for Qatari investors to research, explore opportunities, make investment decisions and operate in a sustainable, highly effective manner with large Vietnamese enterprises of potential in projects of mutual interest.

Mr. Faisal Abbas, Head of Strategic & Direct Investments of Asia and MENA and the QIA delegation

On behalf of the QIA delegation, Mr. Faisal Abbas - Head of Strategic & Direct Investments of Asia and MENA gave thanks for the respectful welcome party of SCIC leaders and expressed his impression of the development potential of the projects mentioned by SCIC. Through this visit and survey, he hoped to soon deploy investment projects with SCIC to promote the development of good relationships between the two countries in general and between QIA and SCIC in particular.