The information was released by President and CEO of SMBC Nikko Securities Inc, Tetsuya Kubo, during his meeting with Minister of Finance Dinh Tien Dung in Ha Noi on Thursday.

Kubo said the JBIC has introduced the ministry to a number of Japanese consulting agencies, including SMBC Nikko Securities, to evaluate financial feasibility for the issuance and various criteria, such as term, issuance costs and yen and US dollar conversion costs.

At the meeting, Dung also briefed Kubo on the Vietnamese economy, noting that the government had successfully sold US$1 billion sovereign bonds after Fitch Ratings upgraded Viet Nam's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings (IDRs) to ‘BB-' from ‘B+' and revised the outlook to ‘stable' from ‘positive' in November last year.

Dung pointed out that Viet Nam would continue to seek international financial resources for economic development in the short, medium and long terms. He also expressed his hope to receive support from Japan in expanding the government bond market to the international market.

He also expressed his appreciation for SMBC Nikko Securities in helping the ministry study the Vietnamese government's chances of mobilising capital in the Japanese market. He also called for Japanese investors to invest in the Vietnamese government's bonds in dong.

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance had announced a plan to issue an additional US$1 billion worth of ten-year government bonds for the international market to restructure public debt.

SMBC Nikko is a full-time securities company in Japan covering all client segments through a broad range of financial products and services offered in the international network.

VNS