Largest Corporate of Viet Nam expresses interest on Sri Lanka
The Embassy had a meeting with the top-most management of the iconic automobile manufacturer, Vinfast, at their corporate Head Office in Ha Noi to discuss and to explore commercial and investment opportunities, thus benefiting both Sri Lanka and Vinfast. The Vinfast is the auto manufacturer under the parent company of Vingroup, one of the largest listed corporates in South-East Asia. The Ambassador Dr. A. Saj U. Mendis along with the Minister Commercial, Ms. Kishani Wickramasinghe, met with the Deputy CEO of Vinfast, Ms. Bui Kim Thuy, along with the senior management of Vinfast. The meeting lasted over an hour and discussed myriad of economic, commercial and trade opportunities.
Vinfast is one of the very few auto manufacturers specialized in manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (EVs) as well as other conventional vehicles. Being one of the largest auto manufacturers not only in the region but in the world, when Vinfast was listed on the US Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, in August of 2023, the price of the shares soared to make Vinfast the second most valuable auto company in the world just behind that of Tesla, yet another EV manufacturer. The market capitalization of Vinfast in August 2023 was higher than the combined market cap. of both General Motors and Ford of the US as it exceeded USD 110 billion or over 25% of the total GDP of Viet Nam. During the recent past, Vinfast, which is highly aggressive in expanding and penetrating new markets, is in the process of investing USD 4 billion in the State of North Carolina in the US on a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility and USD 500 million in the Chennai in India as well as has investment propositions to commit USD 1.2 billion in Indonesia respectively.
Ambassador Mendis commended on the achievements and attainments of Vinfast of Vingroup stating that today Vinfast has basically become a household name mostly in Asia as well as in other countries. The Vinfast produces around 300,000 vehicles per year and has the potential to produce one million vehicles. Dr. Mendis stated to Deputy CEO Ms. Thuy to consider Sri Lanka, favorably, to have commercial operations such as outsourcing, manufacturing or assembly plant, thus facilitating and ensuring the smooth functioning of the global supply chains as well as complementing the manufacturing facilities of Vinfast. Further, Ambassador Mendis listed out the compelling and appealing factors and attributes of Sri Lanka in order to be considered as an investment destination as well as to be engaged on commercial activity as pertinent. For all record purposes, Vinfast has one of the most advanced state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in the entire region. Dr. Mendis impressed the Deputy CEO, Ms. Thuy, that given the number of FTAs and trade agreements Sri Lanka has as well as the strategic location with easy access to Central & South Asia and Middle-East, Sri Lanka would be an ideal and quintessential location for commercial and economic activity for Vinfast.
15th May 2024
Ha Noi
