Around 35 senior managers of 18 leading groups will arrive in Hanoi May 3 to take part in the “Vietnam - a bright future for US businesses” forum, organized by the US-ASEAN Trade Council in coordination with the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry.
This is the biggest delegation of US businesses to visit Vietnam since Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) was approved and Vietnam’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in January 2007.
Through this visit, some groups operating in Vietnam already want to find ways to expand their operations in the country. Others want to look for new investment opportunities, said Frances A. Zwenig, High Commissioner of the US-ASEAN Trade Council.
Leading US groups will bring high-quality sources of investment to Vietnam and are interested in important fields for Vietnam like infrastructure, financial services, information technology, and education, said Frances A. Zwenig, High Commissioner of the US-ASEAN Trade Council.
She also noted that US businesses are eying Vietnam’s IT sector, adding that more US investors will follow Intel as they expect a bright prospect for investment in Vietnam, with the cheap and abundant labor force of more than 80 million people.
The delegation of 18 groups includes Abbott International, Agilent, Alcoa, Apco Worldwide, Boeing Company, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon Mobil, Ford Motor, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, JHPIEGO, Raytheon International Inc, Time Warner, UPS, Vietnam Partners and Universal Telecom Services, Inc.
“We come to Vietnam this time to understand more clearly the specific directions and actions of Vietnam after World Trade Organization entry and permanent normal trade relations (PNTR). At this moment, Vietnam is seen as a promising land for foreign investors, but we need to see how Vietnam will take advantage of those opportunities to continue being a promising land for investors,” Ms Zwenig emphasized.
“To lure more investment, Vietnam should make more effort to develop the education sector to build world standard universities,” she stressed, adding that more favorable policies needed to be issued to attract overseas Vietnamese intellectuals back to the country.
She also said President Nguyen Minh Triet plans to visit the US this June, which is expected to bring economic contracts between the two countries.
Last year, US companies invested in 47 projects in Vietnam worth a total capital of $638.6 million, fourth among foreign investors in the country.
Two-way trade between Vietnam and the US reached nearly US$9.7 billion in 2006, compared with nearly US$8 billion in 2005. Of which, Vietnam exported around $8.56 billion worth of goods to the US last year, much more than $6.63 billion in 2005, and imported only around $1.1 billion from the foreign country, down compared to nearly $1.2 billion in 2005. (Vietnam Economic Times, Vietnamnet)
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