President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc (right) meets with Kyung Shik Sohn, chairman and CEO of CJ Group. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc pledged to create favourable conditions for investors while meeting with leaders of Korean firms which were implementing large-scale projects in Việt Nam on Monday in Seoul as part of his three-day visit to the country.

Receiving Kyung Shik Sohn, chairman and CEO of CJ Group, Phúc highly appreciated the group’s implementation of its commitments when investing in Việt Nam in food and animal feed production, biology, logistics and culture.

CJ now has 24 subsidiaries operating in eight sectors in Việt Nam with a total revenue of US$1.5 billion, a 10-fold increase in the past 10 years.

Phúc urged CJ to further expand investment in Việt Nam and turn the country into a global production and business base. He also expected CJ to consider moving the headquarters in Southeast Asia to Việt Nam to be able to take advantage of the opportunities of free trade agreements to which Việt Nam was a member and actively bring Vietnamese goods to the world market.

For his part, Sohn said that for many years, the group had properly implemented its investment commitments on clean food production and biotechnology in Việt Nam, turning Việt Nam into the third largest out of 30 markets of CJ in the world. He stressed that Việt Nam would become CJ’s production and business base in Southeast Asia.

At the meeting with Lotte chairman and CEO Shin Dong-bin, Phúc affirmed that Việt Nam always created favourable conditions for Lotte to expand business and continue its success in Việt Nam. He applauded Lotte for starting the construction of a major urban project in HCM City in early September and Lotte Mall Tây Hồ which would be operational from August 2023.

He urged the group to study the investment in building a modern trade centre and urban area in Long An Province.

Phúc stressed that the management agencies in Việt Nam would cooperate with the group to ensure the harmonisation of interests between the two sides and create the best conditions for Korean firms to create new imprints in Việt Nam.

Hosting vice chairman and CEO of LG Kwon Bong-seok, Phúc highly appreciated the group’s investment in Việt Nam which creates thousands of jobs. Phúc said he expected LG would increase its investment in Việt Nam, especially in sectors of strength such as automotive and mobile phone equipment, information technology training and software centre.

Phúc hoped LG would set up its main and largest production centre in Việt Nam, pledging to create the best environment and infrastructure for the investors.

LG had invested in Việt Nam since 1995 with a total investment of $5.3 billion in a variety of sectors. LG would invest another $4 billion in Việt Nam and planned to turn Việt Nam into a production centre of cameras for phones, Bong-seok said

While meeting with chairman of Daewoo E&C Jung Won-ju, Phúc expected the group to invest in building large hospitals in Việt Nam to meet the healthcare services demand of the country of 100 million people together with investing in infrastructure, oil and gas and smart city.

Emphasising that the investment in the Star Lake smart urban area would be a highlight, Won-ju said that Deawoo wished to invest more in Việt Nam, especially in oil and gas, green growth, environment and community development.

Highly appreciating Huyndai Motor’s investment in Việt Nam, Phúc urged the group to enhance cooperation with Vietnamese enterprises and further promote the part-supply industry in Việt Nam while meeting with the group's CEO Chang Jae-hoon.

Phúc welcomed the group’s investment in producing electric vehicles in Việt Nam, adding that he would direct relevant ministries and agencies to study policies of tax and infrastructure development to encourage the use of electric vehicles.

Jae-hoon, for his part, expressed his wish to expand investment in the production of electric cars in Việt Nam to not only serve the Vietnamese market but also all of Asia.

At the meeting with Lim Byeong Yong, vice chairman and CEO of GS E&C, Phúc urged the group to expand investment in green energy, environmental protection, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure development.

In response, Yong said that the group was striving to implement several urban areas in Việt Nam and hoped to promote education infrastructure in the southern part of HCM City through the development of internationally affiliated schools.

While meeting with Yeonin Jung, CEO and chairman of Doosan, Phúc expressed hope that Doosan would jointly build green and clean energy solutions and support Việt Nam in realising its sustainable development goals. ‘

Phúc also received the group of partners of Saigontel lead by Kang Hoon Lee, Chairman of the Korea Overseas Infrastructure and Urban Development Corporation (KIND) under the Korea Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

He applauded KIND’s cooperation with Việt Nam’s Saigontel to invest in Việt Nam, especially in infrastructure development. He also stressing the role of KIND in promoting investment and business of Korean firms in Việt Nam, adding that Việt Nam was improving the legal framework for public-private partnership (PPP) which would create favourable conditions for investing in Việt Nam.

Phúc said at the meeting with Đất Việt/Kocham’s group of partners that he expected Korean investors would continue to expand operation and investment in Việt Nam.

The partners group of Đất Việt/Kocham expressed hope that Vietnamese Government would provide support in implementing projects in the central region of Việt Nam which were expected to contribute to balance the development quality among different regions in the country. — VNS