Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visits the Yangon branch of BIDV on December 18 (Photo: VNA) Yangon (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited some major investment establishments of Vietnam in Yangon on December 18 as part of his official visit to Myanmar.
One of the stops was telecom operator Mytel, a joint venture between the Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group and two local partners.
After 18 months of operating in Myanmar, Mytel now has a clientele of 8 million, owning a 22-percent telecom market share. It has become the third biggest mobile network operator and one of the fastest growing telecom brands in the country.
The firm has also strongly engaged in social programmes to help improve living standards of local people, especially students. So far, it has provided free internet services for nearly 200 schools and trained hundreds of high-quality telecom workers for Myanmar.
PM Phuc highly valued Mytel’s effective investment and business activities in Myanmar, which he said have enhanced other Vietnamese businesses’ confidence to invest in this market and strengthened the two countries’ friendship.
He attributed Mytel’s success to Viettel’s technological development achievements, especially the 5G technology application, noting that Vietnam has brought its most advanced technologies to invest in and transfer to Myanmar.
On this occasion, he also thanked the Government, the Defence Ministry and relevant agencies of Myanmar for facilitating the development of Mytel and its partners, thereby contributing to the comprehensive cooperative partnership between the two countries.
The leader expressed his belief that Mytel will keep growing to reach a higher ranking in the local telecom market. He also told it to develop mobile, financial and e-Government services in this potential nation, and actively cooperate with other Vietnamese businesses and investors in Myanmar.
The same day, PM Phuc attended the opening ceremony of the first representative office of HDBank in Myanmar.
The office, based in Yangon, will promote investment and transaction activities, carry out negotiations, support HDBank’s clients, and assist the bank’s partners in investment and business relations in Myanmar. It is hoped to help with Vietnam-Myanmar economic links, the development of the two business circles, and the promotion of HDBank’s image in foreign markets.
PM Phuc also visited the Yangon branch of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), which is the first and also only Vietnamese bank that has been licensed in Myanmar so far. It has operated in the country since 2016.
BIDV reported that as of the end of 2019, its Yangon branch had the total asset value of over 120 million USD and nearly 200 clients which are organisations and businesses, including most of Vietnamese firms investing in Myanmar. It has also provided counseling to help Vietnamese companies learn about the local investment climate.
Applauding BIDV Yangon’s attainments, the PM noted the bank plays a very important role as it concurrently supplies loans for Vietnamese investors in Myanmar and assists those that plan to invest in the country.
He asked the bank to step up lending and support for enterprises while applying new technologies and a modern governance model in its operations to better meet clients’ demand and realise its business targets.
The more optimal investment attraction policy of Myanmar and the growing number of Vietnamese companies will form a favourable environment for BIDV to develop, he added./.
VNA
