Opening Address | SEA500

Mr. Nguyen Loc Ha, Vice Chairman of People's Committee, Ho Chi Minh City, ladies and gentlemen, first of all, on behalf of Ministry of Finance of Vietnam, I would like to express my gratitude to your fortune and all delegates, and welcome to Vietnam. Vietnam is honored to be selected as the host for Southeast Asia 500 Summit 2026, together with the presence and participation of all business leaders and entrepreneurs in banking, finance, logistics, technology, infrastructure, energy, consulting, medical, and consumer. The innovation from many countries and regions in the world, it shows the attraction, the increasing attraction of our region and Vietnam in the global context, and the increasing trust from the foreign investors community in Vietnam. Our world is coming into a volatile world with higher competitiveness in technology with the objective to the energy transformation and green transformation while we are still protecting the value chain and the supply chain's resilience and the food security. In that context, The international cooperation is adaptable to change from enabling the environment and connectivity into moving forward altogether, joining hands to grow. We are committed to take innovation and digital transformation as a key driving factor and moving to the growth based on value-added high quality and promote the role of the private sector as the most important driving force in the economy. In the volatile world and economic situation, Vietnam Our economy continues to show our resilience and the growth rate, a very impressive growth rate in the last few years. Specifically, GDP growth rate in Vietnam continues to be one of the top highest in the Southeast Asia, about 7 to 8% with the processing, manufacturing services, export and import. In the first nine months of 2026, we reached 9.1% in our GDP growth rate. And the national budget is up to our estimate as well, and the public debt is under control. Up to the international standards, the FDI attraction of high quality is also one of our top priorities and we are one of the highlights, one of the most impressive destinations for the FDI. The transformation to semiconductor green energy and high technology is also our top priority. It's the strong commitment from the whole political system, our government, and the companion of the Also, the enterprise community. Looking back, we were proud of having a stable government and keeping top four economy in ASEAN countries. Coming into the next decade, with the commitment to become a high-income country in 2045, Our most strategic milestone is resolution number 10 about FDI development. This resolution determines that FDI is one of the most important driving forces for the economic development. The President of the United States, In the context of improving the strategy and the competitiveness of the country, we transformed from attracting purely the investment into Building a strategic infrastructure and strategy platform for investment and moving to the innovation ecosystem. Our message to the foreign investors and entrepreneurs in the globe is that we welcome all the... Investors who have modern governance capabilities, high technology to enter into Vietnam. We are not only welcoming the manufacturing companies, but also one become a hub of IND ...data centers, AI, and become like a regional hub for the financial... ...institutions and other big corporations. To realize this objective, we are building a synchronous ecosystem connecting FDI companies and local companies, promoting logistic infrastructure, green energy, high-quality talents and human resources, and make full use of all the driving forces in the capital market. free trade zone and... International. We do hope that the foreign investors focus on five following directions. First, accompany us to research new technology, prioritize high-advantage fields like life Life science, semi-conductors, smart technology. Promote R&D center, laboratories, and technology development programs together with the manufacturing demand and market demand. Transforming from processing and application to R&D and by design manufacturing together with local design. Focusing on some strategic investment fields like semiconductor, AI, digital platform, green energy, biotechnology, new materials, and high value-added services. And next, to enabling and build new supply chain with high resilience, foreign investors and companies focus on high investment in Vietnam and engage with our domestic companies to get deeper into the supply chain system in the world. It's a high-quality law. To develop higher talent and human resources and to have human-centric approach, especially in modern governance, data center, logistics, and other futures industries, international. Question of... Financial institutions and FinTech Corporation to be engaged in investment and development of International Finance Center, IFC, in Vietnam. Ladies and gentlemen, Vietnam is committed to build an independent economy and integrate more and more into the global economy, building further and firm infrastructure, building stable business environment. We are committed to protect the rights and interests of all investors and facilitate the operation of the foreign investors when investing in Vietnam to have long-term development in Vietnam. We hope that the foreign investors not only consider Vietnam as a consumer market or a manufacturing or processing destination only, but also consider us as a partner in R&D. The Southeast Asia 500 Summit today We have the participation of many top global leaders in logistics, medical, It is a great opportunity for Vietnam to listen to the strategic perspectives from many participants and also listen to the concerns of the investors. Once again, thank you so much and I wish the summit successful and opening new cooperation. opportunity and contributing to the prosperity of Vietnam and the whole region. I wish all of you good health and success. Thank you so much.