VOV.VN Wednesday, 17:53, March 22, 2023

On March 22, at the Government Headquarters, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) delegation.

The attendees were leaders of the Government Office and the ministries of Planning and Investment, Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, Information and Communication, Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Culture - Sports and Tourism.

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Also in attendance were the State bank of Viet Nam, the US-ASEAN Business Council President and CEO Ted Osius, the US Ambassador in Vietnam Marc E. Knapper.

The leaders of more than 50 leading enterprises in the US and the world were there too, including AES, Netflix, Boeing, Apple, Coca-Cola, Pfizer, Abbott, Visa, Citibank, Meta, Ford, and FedEx Express. 

The Prime Minister welcomed the USABC and the US business delegation to Việt Nam, and the delegation members joined a frank, sincere and effective working session with Vietnamese agencies.

This is a continuation of previous working sessions and exchanges between the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister, ministries, branches and localities and The USABC and the US businesses to remove difficulties, overcome challenges and develop together.

The Prime Minister thanked the US Government for supporting Việt Nam in COVID-19 prevention and control. 

Thanks to USABC and the US businesses for accompanying Việt Nam in overcoming difficulties, recovering and developing during the past years; he said the Government of Việt Nam is always open and ready to listen to the thoughts, aspirations and opinions of the US business community.

The Prime Minister said that Việt Nam considers the US one of its most important partners and welcomes the US to support a strong, independent, prosperous Việt Nam. 

Việt Nam wishes to promote the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Partnership relation to becoming more substantive, stable, and intensive based on respect for independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political institutions of each other.

The head of Government praised the production and business investment activities and high sense of responsibility of the US business community in Việt Nam, affirming that the Government is always open and ready to listen to the thoughts, aspirations and opinions of the US business community.

The Prime Minister said that the Government always protects the legitimate rights and interests of investors and respects, encourages and is ready to create favourable conditions for this sector to develop in the long term, cooperate and compete healthily with other economic sectors in the spirit of "harmonious benefits, shared risks".

The Representatives of the US-ASEAN Business Council and US businesses express their trust in Việt Nam's economic growth prospects, undertaking to place long-term investment in Việt Nam, especially in the fields of green transformation, digital transformation, energy transformation, finance, manufacturing, automobile industry, entertainment industry, healthcare, life sciences, logistics, speeding up planning, and approving a few specific projects.

The US businesses give the Government, ministries and branches of Việt Nam a few suggestions to create more favourable conditions such as a legal framework on e-commerce; information network security and information accessibility; policy of tax; capital market reformation to promote investment; less cumbersome visa granting policy.

Energy continues to be the main topic of discussion with the goal of promoting the development of multi-billion US-dollar energy projects in Vietnam. A representative from AES Vietnam who joined the delegation said, "AES is the largest U.S. investor in Vietnam’s energy sector and plays active role in energy cooperation between the two countries, with our current projects Son My LNG terminal and Son My 2 power plant. Progress on these large- scale projects by AES and other member companies will help move Vietnam forward".

After leaders of ministries and branches communicated and answered the comments and suggestions given by The USABC and the US businesses, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh acknowledged the comments and answered suggestions given by The USABC and the US businesses.

He also directed the ministries and branches of Vietnam to continue processing the issues according to the opinions and suggestions of the US businesses, thereby continuing to promote economic cooperation, contributing to promoting Việt Nam-US Comprehensive Partnership relation become a substantive, effective, equal and mutually beneficial relationship.

The Prime Minister says that the Government of Vietnam continues to create favourable conditions for US businesses to expand investment in Việt Nam while creating conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate more deeply in the production value chain of the US businesses.

He suggests that the two sides continue to discuss removing the barriers in production and business and improving the business investment environment.

The Prime Minister also informs about a few specific industries and fields that The USABC and the US businesses are interested in, such as the digital economy and creative industries, healthcare, energy, agriculture, and aviation.

The Head of the Government of Việt Nam suggests that USABC businesses should continue to act as a bridge between the US Government and businesses and the Government of Việt Nam.

This will support to promote the cooperation channels between the two countries; strengthen the substantive and effective cooperation with Vietnam based on optimising the potentiality in the framework of Việt Nam-US Comprehensive Partnership relation, especially in the field of the economy-trade - investment; urge the US Government to strengthen the economic and trade activities with ASEAN, to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, cooperation and development in Southeast Asia in particular and Asia-Pacific in general.

The Prime Minister suggests the USABC expand its investment business in Vietnam, focusing on the fields where Vietnam needs, and the USABC's businesses have their strengths. The cooperation between business associations, industry associations and businesses of the two countries should be strengthened to create conditions for Vietnamese businesses to participate more deeply in the global supply chain and value.

USABC cooperates with Vietnam in researching and developing specific policies to be able to approach and attract investment from the US multinational companies in the two options: carrying out the big, high-tech projects, creating favourable conditions for the corporations to build the R&D centres, technology incubators associated with human resource training, modern management; USABC strengthens its cooperation, procurement and technology transfer to Vietnamese businesses, especially in the fields of vaccine production, therapeutic drugs, medical equipment, high technology, digital agriculture, and clean, smart agriculture to adapt to climate change.

The Prime Minister affirms that Việt Nam is ready to import machines, equipment, tools and spare parts from the US to improve the Việt Nam-US trade balance; he suggests that US businesses research and develop cooperation with Việt Nam in this option; he supports the Government of Việt Nam's cooperation with the US Government in forming a bilateral cooperation mechanism on investment promotion to assess the potential, demand and investment cooperation opportunities between the two countries and increase two-way investment flows.

The Prime Minister believes that The USABC and the US businesses will make effective contributions to the promotion of the Vietnam-US Comprehensive Partnership relation more and more substantive and intensive based on mutual benefits, bringing growth and jobs for the people of both countries, contributing to the maintenance of the peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.