Possibilities for cooperation between Sri Lankan Corporates and Vinfast Viet Nam
On 28th September 2023, Ambassador of Sri Lanka, Prof A. Saj U. Mendis, and delegation of Embassy, had a bilateral meeting with the Head of South-East Asia and South Asia of Vinfast Group, Mr. Nguyen Duc Thanh. The meeting was held at the Corporate Head Office of Vinfast in Ha Noi.
During this fruitful and result-oriented discussion, Ambassador Mendis outlined advantages, uility and potential for investments and other business arrangements that Vinfast Group could have with select corporates in Sri Lanka. Besides, Ambassador further listed out the incentives and privileges offered to large foreign corporates either with regard to FDI or International Joint Venture Partnerships (IJV). Additionally, the Government of Sri Lanka could offer incentives, concessions and privileges to match any other country in order to woo and attract Vingroup to Sri Lanka. Ambassador also informed Vinfast with the FTAs of Sri Lanka including those which are inked and are under negotiation, as well as enumerating the salient features of Sri Lanka’s natural endowments and strategic geographic location, amongst others attributes.
Vingroup is, today, a global brand and global corporate and one of the first South-East Asian corporates to commit an investment, described as reverse FDI, in the State of North Carolina in the US amounting to USD four billion. Moreover, Vinfast was listed on NASDAQ in August 2023 and the stock rose meteorically to have a total market capitalization of nearly USD 90 billion. For record, this figure was higher than the combined market cap. of both General Motors and Ford. This was a patent testament of the commercial prowess of Vinfast.
Ambassador Mendis did compliment the company as well as the economy of Viet Nam since Vinfast of Vingroup is the largest corporate of Viet Nam as well as amongst the largest in the region with a total workforce of nearly 100,000. The Vingroup conglomerate is highly diversified ranging from technology, industry, real estate, construction, retail and services, health-care, hospitality to automobiles including Electric Vehicles (EVs).
During the meeting, delegation of the Embassy also presented the detailed brochure of select corporates of Sri Lanka, which are amongst the largest corporates in Sri Lanka. This is with an expectation that select corporate/s of Sri Lanka would engage in assembling of autos and vehicles, mutually contributing to Vinfast EVs global value chain. Ambassador Mendis is scheduled to meet with the CEO of Vinfast in November 2023, Mdm. Le Thi Thuy, since she overseas currently.
