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The Vietnam News

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U.S. wants to become number one investor in Vietnam, says Zwenig

HANOI - U.S. companies are looking to become number one foreign investors in Vietnam, said Frances Zwenig, counselor of the US-ASEAN Business Council. She told a news briefing in Hanoi on Friday that the U.S. now ranked sixth among Vietnam’s leading foreign investors but American companies wanted to get on top of the list as soon as possible.

Therefore, the council and its members will work on a list of projects for new investments or expansion that will be tabled during Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet’s visit to the U.S., which Zwenig said would take place in late June. These projects will serve as a platform for U.S. companies to thrust into the Vietnamese market with a population of 84 million. She said the council would have a lot of homework to do until the start of Triet’s first trip to America in his capacity as Vietnamese president of state.

The news briefing took place following a two-day executive forum, which was attended by 18 leading U.S. corporations, namely Abbott International, Agilent Technologies, Alcoa, Apco Worldwide, Boeing, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Ford Motor, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, JHPIEGO, Raytheon International Inc, TimeWarner, Universal Telecom Services Inc, UPS, and Vietnam Partners LLC.

The U.S. business delegation met Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Friday, an event which Zwenig described as fruitful and significant, after the “Vietnam – A Bright Future for American Businesses” forum organized by the council and Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry. She said PM Dung’s views were similar to those of the U.S. mission and that they even met the expectations of the visiting delegates. The Government leader said he expected the U.S. to get higher on the list of leading foreign investors in Vietnam, she said. He made clear the Government’s policy to give priority to human resource development, she said, adding this corresponded plans by U.S. companies to boost investment in education and technology transfer in Vietnam.

Both sides also discussed the formulation of a trade and investment framework agreement, an issue on which the two countries reached tentative agreement during the recent U.S. visit by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem. Colin Low, president of General Electric (GE) for Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, said he was optimistic about business and investment opportunities sounded out after the forum in Hanoi.

“GE plans to invest in three sectors in Vietnam – infrastructure, healthcare and finance,” he said. “We also plan to introduce training courses to Vietnam. We have a training center for CEOs (chief executive officers) and CFOs (chief finance officers) of major companies in New York, so we can assist Vietnam in human resource development.”

By Anh Minh - Saigon Times Daily - May 7, 2007