The Hanoi branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was officially inaugurated in the capital on Jan. 26 and became the first mainland Chinese bank to operate in Vietnam since 1995.

Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Sun Gouxiang said that the bank officially debuted on the occasion of the two nations celebrating 60 years of diplomatic ties. Jan. 26’s event marked a significant milestone for the good relationship between the two nations.

“Bilateral trade turnover skyrocketed from 32.2 million USD in 1991 to about 21 billion USD last year. China had become Vietnam’s biggest trader over the past six years,” he noted.

“Cooperation of the two countries in construction and contracting, direct investment and human resource training has made positive progress. Vietnam has become China ’s second largest engineering contracting market in Southeast Asia .”

About 700 Chinese enterprises have pumped a total investment capital of 3 billion USD into Vietnam . More than 2,000 companies are now doing business.

Dang Thanh Binh, deputy governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, said that he hoped the ICBC would become an effective bridge to promote trade and investment between the two countries.

ICBC chairman Jiang Jianqing said: “ Vietnam is one of the most important countries in ASEAN. The formal establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area on January 1, 2010, will generate a historic opportunity for the economic and trade relationship between China and other ASEAN countries, including Vietnam .”

The ICBC is China ’s largest commercial banks and one of the biggest commercial banks in the world. It has a strong client base, an advanced level of information technology and the advantages of diverse products. The bank was listed simultaneously in Shanghai and Hong Kong in 2006 with the highest capitalisation in China .

It now has 162 branches in 20 countries and established relationship with 1,393 other banks in 125 countries to expand its operation and services./.