Nguyen Duc Chung, Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, made the statement during working sessions with the US Departments of State and Commerce in Washington on July 10. 

Chung is leading a delegation of the Vietnam Young Businesspeople Association, authorities and over 50 businesses from six Vietnamese localities of Hanoi, the northern province of Thai Nguyen, the central province of Quang Tri and the southern provinces of Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai and Long An, to a programme promoting Vietnamese localities in the US.

The Vietnam Promotion Roadshow in the United States (VPR USA-2017), the first of its kind in the US, aims to practically materialise outcomes of the US visit by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last May. 

Chung said the localities support the Vietnamese Government’s policy to attach importance to enhancing relations with the US and facilitate joint cooperation projects. 

The official stressed the potential for cooperation between Vietnam and the US, noting that with nearly 100 million people, Vietnamese localities will create a promising market for the US. 

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Southeast Asia Patrick Murphy affirmed that the US gives importance to intensifying its relations with Vietnam on the basis of major interests in economy-trade, security, global issues and people-to-people exchange. 

Enhancing collaboration between Vietnamese and US localities is significant, even decisive, to the realisation of commitments reached by the two Governments, he said. 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Asia at the US Department of Commerce Diane Farrell spoke highly of Vietnam’s economic achievements over the past years, even in the context of regional and global economic uncertainties. 

The delegation’s visit to the US mirrors Vietnam’s willingness and commitment to materialise high-level agreements reached by the two countries, she noted. 

The same day, the Foreign Affairs Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese Embassy in the US in conjunction with the US Chamber of Commerce (USCC) and the US-ASEAN Business Council (US-ABC) organised a seminar on cooperation between Vietnamese and US localities. 

The event updated US economic associations and businesses with information about investment environment and priority cooperation areas in Vietnamese localities. 

US firms also used this occasion to express their concerns when running business in Vietnam. 

Following the seminar, more than 100 Vietnamese and US businesses engaged in an exchange programme where they discussed initiatives and cooperation projects in information-technology, smart urban areas, trade and services, green energy, health care, education and vocational training. 

Addressing the event, Ambassador Pham Quang Vinh stressed that enhancing connection between Vietnamese localities and US Government agencies, localities and businesses will contribute to elevating the two countries’ relations practically, consolidating their mutual trust and understanding and creating a foundation for exchanges between their citizens.

VNA