With a busy working schedule, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation was very successful, with gains in all targets and tasks.

The special feature of the long journey from the Eastern Hemisphere to the Western Hemisphere, from North America to South America was night flights. The daytime was spent on meetings and working sessions. Activities were carried from early in the morning till late at night and were all substantial and effective.

New atmosphere, momentum, inspiration

Talking about the outcomes and the significance of the business trip, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung stressed that the visit was very significant and different from previous ones.

The world is under a strong adjustment process, which is changing trade and investment structure, and the current trend is a transition to changing the market and supply chain. This poses opportunities for Vietnam.

“Vietnam’s policy is not just adapting to the new circumstances in a passive manner and following the moves in the world, but shifting towards actively creating, grasping opportunities and overcoming challenges to take full advantage of the new conditions to develop and determine its future,” Dung said.

The minister stressed that Prime Minister Chinh’s visit to the US was done right after the upgrading of the Vietnam-US relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. 

This has created a new atmosphere, new momentum, and new inspiration for US investors.

“The points in the Vietnam-US Joint Statement have been designed with a new approach and renovations as instructed by the Prime Minister,” Dung said.

The programs on promoting trade and calling for investments will be organized but not in the familiar way with large-scale forums and seminars, but will focus on the business fields that Vietnam and the partners want to develop together.

The science and technology development plan, for example, has been designed as a separate topic. The Prime Minister had private meetings with American corporations in this field.

Chinh met leaders of the US’s leading semiconductor enterprises, investment funds, financial institutions and commercial banks related to a financial center to be set up in HCM City.

“This is a new approach which brings bigger effectiveness and hits the target,” he commented.

Dung, who usually accompanies Prime Minister’s visits to other countries, noted that American businesses have never been as excited as now. They are encouraged by the Vietnam-US Joint Statement. 

They praise the Vietnamese investment environment as well as Vietnam’s role, and the way Vietnam overcomes difficulties to develop. 

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister has committed to improve the investment environment, accelerate administrative reform, prepare human resources and develop infrastructure to welcome American investors.

All these factors give reason to believe that there will be a new investment wave in the business fields that Vietnam wants to develop, such as science and technology, innovation, semiconductor chips, energy, environment, and education and training.

“Vietnam is closely cooperating with American enterprises and it is backed and supported by the US government,” Dung said. “So, we have reasons to hope for a new investment wave from the US leading enterprises with powerful financial capability, technologies, markets."

During the working visit, Prime Minister Chinh had working sessions with many US leading technology corporations, including Synopsys, Meta and Nvidia, because science and technology development is a pillar in the Vietnam-US Joint Statement. The US supports Vietnam’s plan to develop the semiconductor industry, with a focus on technology transfer, human resources development, and chip designing.

Challenging, but feasible

As for the visit to Brazil, Dung said this leading economy in South America has a large market of 200 million people, large land area and rich cooperation potential. However, cooperation between Vietnam and Brazil remains modest with turnover of $7 billion.

The Vietnamese Prime Minister suggested more opportunities for the two sides to cooperate, and set a two-way trade turnover target of $10 billion by 2025, and $15-20 billion by 2030.

“This is a challenging but feasible target,” Dung said.

During the Prime Minister’s visits to the US and Brazil, Prime Minister Chinh also talked about the cooperation in culture, sports and tourism. This aims at realizing Party Chief Nguyen Phu Trong’s direction on introducing Vietnam’s culture to the world.

Thu Hang