Prime Minister receives leaders of leading businesses and financial institutions in Qatar

According to the special correspondent of VNA, during the official visit to the State of Qatar, on the afternoon of October 31, in the capital Doha, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Mr. Amir Ali Salemi, CEO of JTA International Investment and Consulting Group.

At the meeting, Mr. Amir Ali Salemi said that JTA is an international financial investment group. JTA's subsidiaries are operating in areas such as energy, construction, innovation and technology, tourism and transportation, healthcare, agriculture and food security.

In Vietnam, JTA is cooperating with T&T Group to study investment cooperation, including an agreement to study investment in the Dong Anh sports complex and commercial center project, Hanoi.

This complex is expected to have a total area of ​​330 hectares, including a stadium with a capacity of 60,000 people, an indoor and outdoor sports training and competition complex, a youth athlete training center... and functional items meeting Olympic standards. Along with that is a complex of theme parks and entertainment areas following the Disneyland model.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated JTA's effective investment and business activities in Qatar in particular and in the world in general; supported the Group's vision and social responsibility when implementing investment in production and business activities aimed at sustainable development and green growth.

According to the Prime Minister, the relationship between Vietnam and Qatar is developing well, with mutual trust, which is a solid foundation for businesses of the two countries to expand cooperation. However, economic cooperation is still not commensurate with the political and diplomatic relations and the aspirations of the people of the two countries.

The Prime Minister welcomed the investment plan for the sports complex project in Dong Anh, in the context that Hanoi has a population of about 10 million but does not yet have a worthy, iconic sports complex.

The Prime Minister hopes that the construction of this complex will contribute to meeting the needs of the people of the capital, but its operation needs to be effective with accompanying services to maintain long-term operations.

The Prime Minister also asked JTA to continue expanding cooperation and investment in Vietnam and promote its role as a bridge to bring potential Qatari and foreign investors to Vietnam.

The Prime Minister proposed to realize the projects with the spirit of "what is said, what is committed must be done"; during the implementation process, if any problems arise, the Vietnamese agencies and localities will handle them according to their authority, if beyond their authority, they will report to the competent authority for consideration and decision.

At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister witnessed the handover ceremony of the Minutes of Agreement on cooperation in investment research in the Dong Anh sports complex and commercial center project between T&T and JTA.

According to the signed agreement, JTA will be the main unit responsible for arranging finance and capital to implement the project.

T&T will work with JTA to propose the selection of consultants, research ideas, plan, design, manage operations and complete legal procedures in accordance with Vietnamese and international laws.

Previously, on the evening of October 30, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received the leader of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) - Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, with estimated assets in 2023 of about 475 billion USD.

Sheikh Bandar Al Thani, Chairman of QIA and Governor of the Central Bank of Qatar, and Sheikh Faisal Al Thani, Chief Investment Officer for Asia-Africa at QIA, said that QIA manages the Qatari Government’s oil and natural gas surplus. With a strategy to reduce the risk of dependence on energy prices, the Fund mainly invests in non-energy sectors and international markets.

QIA leaders said that QIA is very strict in choosing investment locations. However, through research on emerging markets, QIA found investment opportunities in Vietnam, which is consistent with QIA's strategy towards the Far East and East Asia.

In Vietnam, the State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) and QIA have twice signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance information exchange and seek measures to promote cooperation and investment opportunities; and have agreed to establish a joint investment fund.

Welcoming QIA’s cooperation with Vietnam’s SCIC, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that the relationship between Vietnam and Qatar is developing well, with mutual trust, rapid economic cooperation and great potential, which is a solid foundation for businesses of the two countries to expand cooperation. However, investment cooperation between the two countries remains modest.

The Prime Minister suggested that QIA consider boosting investment in Vietnam, focusing on strategic infrastructure projects, including hard infrastructure and soft infrastructure, such as transport infrastructure including highways, high-speed railways, urban railways, subways, seaports, transit airports, telecommunications infrastructure, climate change response infrastructure, digital transformation, social infrastructure, healthcare, education; wind power projects, solar power projects, power storage systems, power transmission, etc.

The Prime Minister welcomed QIA sending a working delegation to Vietnam to directly discuss with Vietnamese agencies or through flexible forms such as online, to learn specifically about the national list of key projects calling for investment in Vietnam, select suitable projects to participate in investment; promote cooperation with SCIC; and enhance consultation and policy comments.

The Prime Minister affirmed that the Government ensures the legitimate and legal rights and interests of investors; promotes three strategic breakthroughs in building open institutions, developing strategic infrastructure and training high-quality human resources, promoting improvement of the investment and business environment, reforming administrative procedures towards simplicity, speed, reducing logistics costs, input costs, compliance costs, improving product competitiveness, focusing on developing social infrastructure to ensure social services for investors and workers, training and improving workers' vocational skills to support investors.

Highly agreeing with the Prime Minister's opinion, saying that the information the Prime Minister shared about Vietnam's investment environment and investment attraction priorities, Mr. Sheikh Bandar Al Thani said that QIA is ready to expand investment in Vietnam in the coming time and will send a working delegation to Vietnam to promote specific projects, especially in the areas mentioned by the Prime Minister./.