PM Pham Minh Chinh woos US investors into Vietnamese market

Chinh, who was in the US for a working trip and the 78th UN General Assembly, said Vietnam and the US have set an exemplary role model globally in healing war wounds and building post-war relations.

He recalled US President Joe Biden’s recent Vietnam visit during which the two countries announced the lifting of their relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership for peace, cooperation and sustainable development.

Enhancing economic - trade - investment cooperation is the core foundation and important driving force for the comprehensive strategic partnership, stressed the PM citing the joint leaders’ statement on the lifting of bilateral relations.

The two sides have also identified science - technology and innovation as groundbreaking and unlimited areas of cooperation, he said, quoting President Joe Biden in his address after talks with Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

The PM affirmed that Vietnam always welcomes foreign investors, including those from the US.

Vietnam always accompanies, listens to and supports investors, he said, adding the country will continue to perfect socialist-oriented market economic institutions, promote major breakthroughs in infrastructure, including hard and soft infrastructure, train high-quality human resources, and accelerate administrative reform, in order to facilitate business operations and increase the competitiveness for investors in new conditions, stated the PM.

According to the PM, Vietnam prioritizes attracting investment projects in new and innovative industries and fields such as green economy, digital economy, circular economy, sharing economy, as well as climate change response, semiconductor manufacturing, new and renewable energy.

He therefore called on US businesses to continue entering and investing in Vietnam for win-win results, contributing to promoting bilateral relations and to peace, cooperation and development in the region and the world at large.

The same day, Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh met with representatives of a number of leading businesses, including Apple, Boeing, Google, and Siemens Healthineers.

In a meeting with Nick Amman, director of global government operations at Apple, Chinh proposed that Apple expand investment in Vietnam; support Vietnamese businesses in enhancing their competiveness and engaging in global supply chains; establish a research and development centre; and develop an innovation ecosystem, along with new technology transfer.

He expected that Apple would make Vietnam an increasingly important base and link in the firm’s supply and production chain.

Nick Amman for his part stressed Vietnam is an important market and production base globally and the two sides still have a lot of potential for cooperation.

He said that Apple supports Vietnam’s clean energy strategy that assists the firm’s manufacturers in the country. He expected that Apple would engage in developing and training Vietnam’s human resources, especially software development human resources, while noting the Southeast Asian country boasts a strong human resources team in the field of digital economy.

Meeting with Brendan Nelson AO, senior vice president of The Boeing Company and president of Boeing Global, the Prime Minister suggested that Boeing expand its production and supply chain in Vietnam, soon build an aircraft machinery and equipment maintenance center to support airlines, and support human resource training and technology transfer.

The PM highly appreciated Boeing’s cooperation and support for Vietnam in operating aircraft, noting the firm is a reliable partner that has provided aircraft and aviation services for Vietnamese airlines for years.

Brendan Nelson AO spoke highly of the Prime Minister’s vision regarding the importance of the aviation industry in economic development. He discussed Boeing’s strategy and cooperation commitments with Vietnam in the coming time, and hoped the firm would have more and more satellite suppliers in Vietnam.

Receiving Karan Bhatia, global head of Government Affairs & Public Policy at Google, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly valued Google’s support for the Vietnam National Innovation Center in producing smartphone models and electronic products, as well as its commitment to contributing to Vietnam’s economic development, especially the development of a sustainable digital ecosystem.

Karan Bhatia shared Google’s business and operation strategy and briefed Chinh on the establishment of a Google office in Vietnam. He highly appreciated the major directions on innovation, science - technology cooperation in the joint leaders’ statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and the US, and put forward proposals for cooperation and investment in the fields of cloud computing and online teaching and learning in Vietnam.

The PM welcomed Google’s expansion plans in Vietnam, and proposed that the tech giant help to ensure information safety and security; strengthen digital skills training, and promote digital transformation support programmes for Vietnamese businesses; and cooperate in training, technology transfer, and human resource development to meet Google’s production and value chain in the country.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also received the leadership of Siemens Healthineers that has been operating in Vietnam for more than 30 years. The leaders of the firm expressed their desire to further expand operations and share experiences in health care in Vietnam.

Chinh welcomed the firm’s expansion plans, and proposed that Siemens Healthineers soon deploy investment in manufacturing high quality medical equipment in Vietnam; strengthen cooperation and technology transfer to Vietnamese partners to participate more deeply in the firm’s production and supply chain; engage in human resource training; and pay more attention to social security programmes, especially in remote areas.