Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed the US delegation, affirming that Vietnam considers the United States as one of its top partners and wishes to continue promoting the bilateral relationship to develop substantively and effectively for the people of the two countries, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the Asia-Pacific region.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received a delegation of officials and businesses from California led by Mayor of Oakland Sheng Thao, on August 1

The PM said he appreciated the good relationship between Vietnam and the state of California, and with Oakland in particular, especially in terms of trade, economy and seaport cooperation.

He emphasised that California was one of the top local partners of Vietnam with nearly 100 enterprises having invested in Vietnam. Vice versa, more than 70 investment projects are invested by Vietnamese companies in California.

The PM said that there was potential and room for cooperation between the two sides, especially in economics, trade, investment, sci-tech cooperation, climate change response, energy conversion, and economic development.

The potential for the circular economy, digital economy, high technology, innovation, education and training and entrepreneurship are still huge. Accordingly, the two sides need to maintain and promote positive cooperation momentum in the future.

Expressing her deep impression on the dynamic development, and beauty of the country and people of Vietnam, Sheng Thao said she appreciated the positive developments of the two countries relations over the past.

She said that Oakland would push to further strengthen the friendship and substantive cooperation with Vietnam in the areas that it is strong, especially in transportation, logistics, and manufacturing, high technology, digital economy, innovation and others, making a positive contribution to the development of relations between California and Vietnam.

One day earlier, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to the ministries, branches and leaders of Hanoi.

This was an activity organised by the Consul General of Vietnam in San Francisco and David Duong, chairman and general director of California Waste Solutions and Vietnam Waste Treatment Co., Ltd. to tighten ties between Vietnam and California as well as promote economic, trade and investment cooperation.

In another meeting, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc said he appreciated the cooperation and investment promotion between Vietnam and the US. She also expressed her admiration for Mayor Thao, the first Hmong to be elected mayor in the US city of Oakland.

Speaking at the meeting, Thao said that California was the largest state in the US and had high diversity, and she wanted to strengthen cooperation relationship between Vietnam and the US.

David Duong, chairman and CEO of CWS and VWS, said that being Vietnamese, he returned and invested in a waste treatment project in Ho Chi Minh City after receiving the appeal of the Vietnamese government, and was very successful.

“I do hope that the Vietnamese government will always support us. Although we have the desire to contribute to the homeland, and bring back foreign investors who can open the door to import and export of Vietnamese goods abroad, we still need more support from the government so that we can be more successful in our business,” Duong said.

David Duong also revealed that he will bring more delegations from California to Vietnam in the near future

Ngoc said that Vietnam and the US had a diplomatic relationship of more than 30 years and 10 years of strategic partnership. After the mayor's visit, Ngoc hopes that the two sides will become a bridge to connect Oakland's business community with relevant localities in Vietnam.

The US is Vietnam's 7^th largest trading partner. As of the end of 2022, Vietnam's export turnover to the US reached more than $100 billion, with the import turnover from the US to Vietnam at about $15 billion.