The US-Vietnam trade relationship is expected to strongly develop in the near future. Photo: TL

Many potential sectors

According to the program of the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), a delegation of 50 top US businesses operating in various sectors, including technology, energy, aviation and defence, manufacturing, agriculture and food, financial services, healthcare, and investment, arrived and worked in Vietnam from March 18-21. Notably, this is the largest business delegation from the US to visit the country since the two nations upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Mr. Ted Osius, President and General Director of USABC, former US Ambassador to Vietnam highly appreciated Vietnam's policies to welcome foreign investors as well as priority areas such as operational goal of the National Innovation Center, the development of the Project on Human Resource Development of the Semiconductor Industry to 2030, with a vision to 2045 with the goal of training 50 thousand engineers to year 2030.

Assessing the prospects of investment sectors in Vietnam, Ms. Sarah Morgenthau, Special Representative for Trade and Business, US Department of State, said that many sectors in Vietnam increasingly attract attention of US businesses such as healthcare, energy, elecommunications, restaurants, and hotels. Vietnam has expanded investment to the US in sectors such as electric vehicles, creating thousands of jobs, in line with the goal of developing renewable energy between the two countries.

Notably, on the first day of arriving in Vietnam, a business in the USABC delegation signed a cooperation agreement with the Vietnamese side. Ms. Reta Jo Lewis, President of the US Export-Import Bank (EXIMbank), said that the economic and trade cooperation between the two countries within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership plays a key role for EXIM in supporting sectors interested by the both sides. EXIM has assisted hundreds of different transactions and committed to support the implementation of the vision and goals of the two countries' relationship after upgrading. On March 18, Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) and US EXIMbank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) worth US$500 million.

The MOU shows the two countries' commitment to strengthening the US-Vietnam trade relationship and to create opportunities to help improve the two countries' economies.

“EXIM will closely coordinate with VDB to identify projects and promote transactions in infrastructure, renewable energy and other projects to foster the green transformation in Vietnam, helping concretize Vietnam’s climate commitments”, President of EXIMbank said.

Continue to invest and expand business

As an US FDI enterprise that has invested billions of dollars in Vietnam, and a major investor in the energy market in Vietnam, Mr. Joseph Uddo, General Director of AES Vietnam Nam said that the company have seen great opportunities in this country with a rapidly growing economy, leading to large demand for electricity and energy supply. Besides, the Vietnamese market is also a market with many opportunities with a population of 100 million people and a young workforce.

Mr. Rafael Frankel, Director of Meta in the Asia-Pacific region, highly appreciated Vietnam's potentials and opportunities, including digital transformation and innovation. He said that Meta has cooperated with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to organize competitions on innovation, creating AI products, new products, creating tools for small and medium-sized businesses, and promoting digital transformation in the Southeast Asian country.

On March 18, 2024, “Vietnam Innovation Challenge” in 2024 themed “Innovation to Accelerate the Semiconductor Industry and AI to Go Global” was officially announced to seek innovative solutions from organizations and individuals around the world to solve important national challenges, towards a prosperous and sustainable Vietnam; and promote growth and improve competitiveness.

At the working session with the USABC delegation, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung informed about Vietnam's priority sectors such as green growth and application of ESG standards; innovation, renewable energy, high technology, semiconductor chips, international financial center; and asked US enterprises to pay attention and expand investment in Vietnam, contributing to realizing goals, bringing benefits to each other, and promoting investment cooperation in line with the US-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.