Han Jong-hee, Samsung Electronics vice chairman and CEO, and Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Photo: VNA

The announcement was made at a meeting between Han Jong-hee, Samsung Electronics vice chairman and CEO, and Vietnamese State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc on the morning of December 6, on the sideline of the president's official three-day visit to South Korea.

"Samsung has set very clear targets and will carry out our projects in Vietnam effectively. We will develop new young human resources and focus on AI, and big data," said Han.

State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc appreciates the expansion plan of Samsung to pour an additional $2 billion into Vietnam. He proposed the conglomerate pay more attention to supporting industries and smart technologies, contributing to enabling Vietnam to be a manufacturing hub and seize new opportunities. He invited Samsung to join the upcoming innovation exhibition in Vietnam.

Jong-hee said that the group's R&D centre in Hanoi would be completed soon and put into operation to research more about smartphones and computers.

"In some upcoming exhibitions, we will show off the world's leading high technologies, and Vietnam will be the manufacturing place if its vendors' capacity allows," said the vice chairman.

Last year, the export turnover of Samsung Electronics Vietnam was $65.5 billion, significantly contributing to the economy and enabling Vietnam to be a worldwide smartphone manufacturing hub.

Samsung has for years produced about half of its smartphones in Vietnam, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the country's overall exports.

In addition to Samsung, President Phuc also met with leaders of Hyosung Group and Korea Development Bank to call for more investment into Vietnam and to work closely with Vietnamese enterprises.

South Korea is one of Vietnam's leading important partners, ranking first in investment, second in providing official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam (after Japan), and third in trade (after China and the United States). The registered foreign investment of South Korean enterprises into Vietnam is about $80 billion, and two-way trade turnover is $90 billion at present and is expected to rise to $150 billion by 2030.