Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte attended the High-tech Business Forum on Thursday which aimed to promote high-tech and innovation cooperation between the two countries. — VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính urged Dutch companies to significantly increase investments in the high-tech and innovation sectors in Việt Nam, pledging the Government’s hastened efforts to create a favourable environment for foreign investors.

Chính was speaking at the High-tech Business Forum co-organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Netherlands Embassy to Việt Nam on Thursday on the occasion of Dutch PM Mark Rutte’s visit to Hà Nội.

Chính said Việt Nam aimed to become a developing country with a modern industrial base and upper-middle income by 2030 and a developed country with high income by 2045.

To achieve these goals, promoting innovation and the strong application of science and technology is considered a strategic breakthrough solution, besides breakthroughs in infrastructure and human resources, he said.

Chính expected the Netherlands to provide support to Việt Nam in improving institutions and policies in the high-tech field and strengthen cooperation in science and technology, innovation, and high-quality human resource training for mutual benefits.

He called on Dutch businesses to develop specific plans for enhancing cooperation with Vietnamese firms, especially in the fields of high-tech agriculture, new energy, renewable energy, semiconductors, climate change adaptation, and shipbuilding through projects with modern technology, high added value, and competitiveness and the capacity to participate in the global value chain.

At the forum, PM Chính urged strong and comprehensive investments in Việt Nam through the National Innovation Centre (NIC) and high-tech parks, adding that the NIC, which opened last weekend, would become a centre to accelerate cooperation between Việt Nam and high-tech companies around the world, including those from the Netherlands.

Việt Nam would protect the legitimate rights of investors to ensure successful investments in the country, especially in sectors such as high-technology, circular economy, green economy, sharing economy, and digital transformation, Chính emphasised, pledging the Government’s efforts to maintain macroeconomic stability, control inflation, improve the infrastructure system, hasten reforms, and develop high-quality human resources.

For his part, PM Rutte believed that more Dutch high-tech companies were coming to Việt Nam for investment opportunities because of Việt Nam’s great potential and favourable conditions to advance to a higher position in the global supply chain.

The Netherlands also wished to share experiences in developing high-tech ecosystems with Việt Nam, he said.

Appreciating Việt Nam’s vision and plans in building high-tech parks and innovation centres, Rutte believed this was the first step in the era of high-tech cooperation between the two countries.

The Netherlands is currently the largest European investor in Việt Nam and the second-largest trade partner of Việt Nam in Europe.

At the forum, the two PMs witnessed the handing over of cooperation documents between Dutch and Vietnamese agencies and businesses in the fields of innovation and finance.

The documents included a memorandum of understanding between NIC and Signify Việt Nam, the awarding of the investment registration certificate to Be Semiconductor Industries N.V., and the Letter of Intent on a $100 million medium and long-term loan cooperation between the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank and Vietnam Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB). — VNS