Deputy Chairman of the Board of the International Investment Bank (IIB), Jozef Kollár, joined the delegation of Slovakia’s leading business representatives during an official visit of the country’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico, to Vietnam on July 17-19, 2016. The visit was dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries and the stepping up of multilateral cooperation, particularly in trade, investment, education and training.

During the visit, the delegation participated in a number of high-level meetings with heads of Vietnam’s ministries and government agencies, as well as a in the business forum “Vietnam-Slovakia”, attended by over 40 businesses and public organisations, IFIs, chambers of commerce and the export-import agencies of the two countries. The Slovak delegation included traditional partners of the IIB – the Export-Import Bank of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Investment and Trade Development Agency (SARIO), as well as Slovakia’s major trade and IT companies.

At the forum and during the discussions at the Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam, J. Kollar presented IIB’s development strategy, its key products and opportunities for investment cooperation given the wide geography of the Bank’s shareholder states. The emphasis was placed on IIB’s readiness to participate in project financing for Slovak and Vietnamese corporates, as well as for projects with participation of companies from non-member countries interested in promoting business in CEE and Southeast Asia.

IIB’s Deputy Chairman held a bilateral meeting with the new CEO and Chairman of the Board of the Export-Import Bank of the Slovak Republic, Dušan Keketi, discussing, inter alia, opportunities for supporting projects – involving Slovak exporters and investors – in Cuba, one of IIB’s shareholder. In June 2016, the IIB and the Central Bank of Cuba signed the Agreement on Cooperation in Organising Financing, confirming the Bank’s status as a special lender for the island country.

Invitation of the Deputy Chairman of IIB’s Board to participate in the visit as part of the official Slovak delegation confirms the interest of both Slovakia and Vietnam, member states of the Bank, to promote economic integration and expand business contacts with the support of this multilateral development institution offering effective financial instruments for international investment cooperation and export-import operations.