Vietnam promises optimal conditions for US enterprises: PM

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates of the US-ASEAN Business Council in Ha Noi on Wednesday

The Vietnamese Government will continue to create favourable conditions for US businesses to expand investment in Vietnam and support Vietnamese enterprises participating deeply in the production value chain of US enterprises. 

Prime Minister (PM) Pham Minh Chinh delivered this statement during a working session with the delegation of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) in Ha Noi yesterday. 

The PM said that Vietnam considered the US one of its most important partners and wanted to deepen the comprehensive bilateral partnership. 

He also praised the US business community's production and investment activities in Vietnam, saying that the Vietnamese Government was willing to listen to the US businesses' opinions. 

The PM noted that the Vietnamese Government would accompany US businesses to solve difficulties and successfully implement their investment projects in the country. 

He suggested that USABC businesses act as a bridge between the US Government and firms with the Vietnamese Government, between the business community and the people of the two countries and support to promote cooperation channels between the two countries.

He urged these firms to strengthen cooperation with Vietnam based on optimising the potential of the framework of the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Partnership, especially in the field of economy, trade and investment. 

Besides, he suggested that USABC to further expand its investment in Vietnam, focusing on fields in which the country had needs and their members had strengths.

USABC should also work with Vietnam in researching and developing specific policies that would enable Vietnam to approach and attract investment from US multinational companies in two directions.

The first direction was implementing large high-tech projects, creating conditions for US corporations to build R&D centres and technology incubators associated with human resource training and modern management.

​
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh meets representatives from US businesses during the working session

​
The second was strengthening cooperation, procurement and technology transfer for Vietnamese enterprises, especially in vaccine production, therapeutic drugs, medical equipment, high technology, digital agriculture, and clean agriculture.

In his speech at the working session, the PM also briefed on a number of specific industries and fields that USABC and US businesses were interested in, such as the digital economy and creative industries, healthcare, energy, agriculture and aviation.

He also informed the US delegation that Vietnam has made three strategic breakthroughs, including perfecting the development institution synchronously, human resource development, and building a synchronous and modern infrastructure system. 

For his part, USABC President and CEO Ted Osius expressed his belief in Vietnam's economic growth prospects. He said Vietnam was a strategic market for US businesses, so they were committed to long-term investment in the country. 

He added that Vietnam's three strategic breakthroughs would help businesses, including those from the US, invest effectively in the country.

At the working session, representatives of US businesses showed their desire to continue investing in Vietnam, especially in green transformation, digital transformation, energy transformation, finance, manufacturing, automotive and logistics. 

They also proposed the State, ministries and branches facilitate capital market reform to promote investment, perfect the legal framework on e-commerce, speed up the planning, approving and licensing of several specific projects and improve the standard of Vietnamese products. 

Many business delegations of the USABC have come to Vietnam in the past, but this time, there were up to 50 firms, including major ones like Boeing, Coca-Cola, CitiBank, Meta, SpaceX, Netflix, Abbott, and AES.

The US currently has 1,223 valid projects worth over US$11.4 billion in Vietnam, ranking 11th among the 142 countries and territories investing here. Meanwhile, it ranks 10th among the 80 countries where Vietnamese firms are investing in.

Bilateral trade hit a record of over $123 billion in 2022, up 11 per cent year on year, turning the US into the second biggest trading partner of Vietnam, and Vietnam the eighth largest one of the North American nation.

VNS