Investment destination: A man walks past mannequins wearing traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai dresses in Hanoi. US investment in Vietnam and vice versa have been on the rise, showing that the country plays a significant role within Asean. — AFP
HANOI: A delegation of 50 top United States businesses has arrived in Vietnam to seek cooperation opportunities in various sectors.
These include technology, energy, aviation and defence, manufacturing, agriculture and food, financial services, healthcare and investment.
According to the US-Asean Business Council (USABC), this is the largest business delegation from the United States to visit the South-East Asian country since the two nations upgraded their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September last year.
During their stay from March 18 to March 21, US businesses are to hold working sessions with Vietnamese ministries, agencies and localities to promote investment opportunities or expand business in Vietnam.
Ted Osius, the president of USABC and a former US Ambassador to Vietnam, said the delegation includes representatives from various sectors of the American economy.
He said this reflected Washington’s commitment to implement the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Hanoi.
Sarah Morgenthau, special representative for trade and business from the US Department of State, said US investment in Vietnam and vice versa have been on the rise and that Vietnam plays a significant role within Asean.
Reta Jo Lewis, president of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim), asserted that the bank will continue to enhance support for financial transactions between the two countries as part of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’s commitments.
She said the bank had programmes to support American businesses producing in the United States but also supports foreign businesses investing and doing business in the United States, such as Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast.
US business representatives said they have confidence in the South-East Asian country’s economic potential as a Meta’s representative revealed plans to introduce new products and services to Vietnam.
This highlighted the country’s potential to become a rising dragon in Asia in the field of artificial intelligence.
Atmo, a US company specialised in providing multinational weather forecasting services with artificial intelligence technology, said the company sees great investment potential in Vietnam, a country forecast to be heavily affected by climate change.
Soon after arriving, Exim and the Vietnam Development Bank (VDB) signed a memorandum of understanding worth US$500mil.
Cooperation between Exim and the VDB is expected to facilitate Vietnam-US import-export activities and cooperations, especially in green economic transformation, infrastructure development projects, and climate-related issues. — Viet Nam News/ANN
