Hanoi courts US investment

During a meeting on March 23 with more than 50 American businesses, Chung said, the city always regarded the United States (US) as one of the most reliable trade and investment partners.  However, the bilateral relationship has failed to match each other’s potential.

Chung called on US companies to make further investments in a wide range of sectors including banking and finance, software development, electronics, and IT, in addition to support industries and environment protection.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Le Hoai Trung said it was the right time for two business communities to expand their co-operation. 

Trung added that enterprises from the two nations could supplement each other, especially Vietnamese firms who desired to receive funding and update hi-end technologies from their US counterparts that could help them gradually penetrate the global value chain.

He emphasised the importance of organising such events to facilitate bilateral co-operation between the businesses of the two nations.

Vietnam was expected by the US firms to perfect the infrastructure and improve the quality of human resources, the US Ambassador to Vietnam, Ted Osius, said at the event.

US investments in Vietnam were expected to rapidly increase due to Vietnam’s potential for consumption and new business opportunities, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA).

The FIA said that many US corporations saw Vietnam as a strategic market with long-term benefits, pointing out that low labour costs was a key factor in attracting investments.

Only in 11 months last year, US businesses pumped more than US$226 million in investments into Vietnam, ranking 14th among 57 foreign investors in the country, bizlive quoted the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s statistics as saying.