OREANDA-NEWS. November 12, 2009. A visit of the Russian business representatives to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was held under the aegis of VTB, reported the press-centre of VTB.

Among the participants there were Andrei Kostin, VTB President and Chairman of the Management Board, Anatoly Isaikin, General Director of JSC Rosoboronexport, Nikolay Brunich, General Director of JSC Zarubezhneft, Evgeny Dod, General Director of JSC Inter RAO UES, and Sergei Afanasiev, General Director of CJSC KAMAZ Foreign Trade Company.   

The visit was aimed at discussing the opportunities of relations development in the key lines of Russian-Vietnam trade and economic cooperation, including energy sector, machine building products and investment field. 

During the visit the delegation met with Nguyen Minh Triet, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of the country to set basic lines of further mutually advantageous cooperation. Russian businessmen also met with Nguyen Van Giau, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, and representatives of the Ministry of Finance and discussed their cooperation under the Russian-Vietnamese top-priority projects.

The visit coincided with the third anniversary of Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture Bank (VRB). Over the three years of VRB work its assets increased from USD 33 million to USD 427 million as of 30 October 2009. The Bank demonstrates stable growth of the loan portfolio that reached USD 235 million in October 2009 and remained profitable despite the global economic slowdown. Presently, under the decision of the Eighth commission on interbank cooperation held in Rostov-on- Don this September, the two countries are developing the ways of switching to national currencies in mutual payments under foreign trade deals. 

Citing Andrei Kostin, VTB President and Chairman of the Management Board: “Meetings between representatives of the largest Russian companies and Vietnam leadership are very important in terms of the coming top level bilateral talks. The visit of the Russian delegation to the Republic of Vietnam proves the growing interest of Russia’s business circles to the developing markets of Asia. We are glad to realize that the Vietnam-Russia Joint Venture Bank which has been successfully operating for 3 years contributes to solving priority tasks of our countries’ cooperation.”    

For reference:
The Vietnam-Russia Bank (VRB), a joint venture of VTB Bank and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (51% of the Bank’s shares belong to the BIDV, 49% - to VTB) started operating in November 2006. VRB was the first Russian Bank established on the territory of the country. It is focused on project financing, import-export financing, lending to Russian enterprises, operating in Vietnam as well as making international settlements between the two countries.