Hanoi – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Chief Operating Officer of Nike, Inc., Andy Campion in Hanoi on December 1, speaking highly of the firm’s contributions to Vietnam’s exports and job creation in the recent past.

PM Pham Minh Chinh (R) and Chief Operating Officer of Nike, Inc., Andy Campion at the meeting in Hanoi on December 1 (Photo: VNA)

The host leader noted with satisfaction the vigorous growth in Vietnam - US relations, including bilateral trade rising over 18 per cent year on year to top 105 billion USD in the first 11 months of 2022.

The US has been the largest export market of Vietnam for many years while Vietnam currently ranks ninth in the world and first in ASEAN among trading partners of the US. Many major technology firms from the North American country such as Apple, Dell, GE, Intel, and Microsoft has invested in the Southeast Asian nation, helping promote Vietnam’s role in regional and global supply chains, he went on.

PM Chinh asked Nike to increase applying scientific and technological advances and achievements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to its production and management activities in Vietnam, while assisting the country to improve the management capacity, give policy advice, train human resources, boost green growth and digital transformation, and develop a circular economy, thereby helping Vietnam build an independent and self-reliant economy with extensive, substantive, and effective integration into the world and deeper engagement in global supply chains.

Vietnam is building a fair, transparent, and stable business climate, effectively dealing with administrative procedures, and reducing input costs for enterprises and investors. It views the foreign invested sector as an important part of the economy and hopes foreign firms will make more investment, especially in the fields matching Vietnam’s demand and enterprises’ strengths, he affirmed.

Agreeing on his host’s cooperation suggestions, Campion informed about the sportswear producer’s operations in Vietnam with enhanced application of technology and automation, adding it produces about 600 million pairs of footwear each year, half of which are made in Vietnam, and that half of the materials for the company’s global supply chains are also sourced from the country.

He highly valued Vietnam’s human resources, saying the staff members in Vietnam are the ones with the best skills in the world of Nike.

He also spoke highly of the Vietnamese economy’s resilience and thanked the Government and PM for their active and effective assistance for the firm’s establishments to quickly and safely resume operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COO also expressed his belief that the country will play an increasingly important role in global supply chains.

Set up in 1995, the Nike Vietnam Co. Ltd has more than 200 partner factories in 20 provinces and cities, along with hundreds of businesses joining its supply chain, indirectly providing jobs for nearly 500,000 local workers.