The International Investment Bank (IIB) and Vietnamese officials have identified a “significant amount” of possible projects for implementation in the Southeast Asian country, a statement from the Moscow-based multilateral development bank said on September 11. 

The news was announced after a trilateral working meeting between Nguyen Van Binh, a member of the Vietnamese Politburo and Secretary of the country’s Central Committee, chairman of the IIB’s board Nikolay Kosov and chairman of the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC), Denis Ivanov. Nguyen joined the Secretary-General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong’s delegation during his state visit to Russia. 

Potential projects in Vietnam include those with an integration effect, namely those that include other shareholder countries of the IIB. “In addition, a need for more active action in the region was underlined, especially in the field of trade finance and securities operations,” the bank’s statement said. 

Days before the trilateral meeting the IIB and Saigon-Hanoi Commercial Joint Stock Bank, one of the largest Vietnamese commercial banks, concluded a memorandum of understanding, the IIB announced on September 10. 

The memorandum, signed on September 6 in Sochi in the presence of Nguyen Phu Trong and Russian President Vladimir Putin, “provides for collaboration of institutions in various scopes of activities and is aimed to strengthen trade and economic ties of Vietnam with other IIB member states, including the Russian Federation,” the IIB’s statement said. 

“Expansion of IIB’s presence in the Vietnamese market and in Asia as a whole is one of the tasks for the current strategic cycle,” said Kosov. 

“We are delighted to be engaged in a number of key strategically important projects for Vietnam in infrastructure, food industry, SME support. Another important aspect of our activities there is assistance we offer to Vietnamese companies – exporters in presenting their interests in the markets of other shareholder countries."

Also on the agenda of the September 11 meeting was the possible integration of IIB and IBEC into a banking group, discussions of which were revealed earlier this year. Vietnam is a shareholder in both institutions. 

The IIB is a multilateral development institution founded in 1970 and reformed in 2012. Its current nine members/shareholders are Bulgaria, Cuba, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mongolia, Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Vietnam. All participate through intergovernmental agreements. In April 2015, the IIB opened its first European regional office in Bratislava.

Meanwhile, in addition to Russia and Vietnam, the IBEC’s members are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.