Riyadh (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the inauguration ceremony and opening of Vietnamese tech giant FPT's Middle East regional office in Saudi Arabia on October 30, part of his attendance at the eighth Edition of the Future Investment Initiative and working trip to the country.
The office opening is part of FPT’s global expansion strategy to meet the growing demand for digital services and solutions worldwide. This is the first time a Vietnamese enterprise has been licensed to establish a regional office in Saudi Arabia.
With a global network and extensive expertise in areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductor, digital transformation, green transition, manufacturing, banking, government, and transportation, FPT aims to increase its presence, connect with customers and partners, and improve its service quality throughout the Middle East.
Addressing the event, PM Chinh highlighted the flourishing relations between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia since they established diplomatic ties 25 years ago. However, he said, bilateral economic ties have not yet matched the level of political and diplomatic relations, nor the aspirations of the two countries’ people.
He suggested the two countries strengthen economic, trade, and investment relations to enable their economies to connect and complement each other for common development, with specific projects.
The PM welcomed FPT’s opening of its regional office, collaboration in workforce training, and efforts to develop and market products. He used the occasion to thank Saudi Arabian agencies and friends for their support for the firm’s operations there.
He said to achieve long-term and sustainable success and create synergistic strength, it must align with Saudi Arabia’s development trends that are digital economy, green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge-based economy, and emerging sectors like AI, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things.
FPT should also operate in compliance with local laws, while contributing to social activities, PM Chinh said, encouraging it to learn from Saudi Arabia’s mindset, vision, and strategies.
Earlier in the morning, the Vietnamese PM received Sultan Al-Marshad, CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) - the Saudi Arabian government’s financial agency, which has financed over 800 development projects and programmes in various fields across 100 countries.
In Vietnam, the SFD has provided concessional loans for 12 projects with total capital of about 160 million USD on constructing and expanding educational and healthcare facilities as well as building roads and upgrading infrastructure in rural areas affected by natural disasters.
At the reception, Chinh praised the SFD for providing concessional loans for projects in Vietnam and hoped that it will continue to support and invest in Vietnam, in line with its capacity and role.
The Vietnamese leader urged the SFD to promote both direct and indirect investment in Vietnam, targeting strategic infrastructure such as seaports, transit airports, high-speed railways, and subway systems, digital transformation, green transition, climate change response, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things.
For his part, Al-Marshad commended the Vietnamese Government’s vision and development policies and expressed his hope for continued facilitation for the fund’s activities in Vietnam. He pledged more resources for projects in Vietnam, underlined the SFD’s honour to become a strategic partner of the country, and announced that an SFD delegation will visit Vietnam this December to explore specific cooperative projects.
PM Chinh welcomed the SFD’s proposals and urged the fund to send a delegation soon to work with relevant Vietnamese ministries and agencies to accelerate the implementation of projects, thereby contributing to strengthening comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Saudi Arabia./.
