In the morning of March 8th, 2022 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi (AmCham) and the U.S Chamber of Commerce in Washington (US Chamber) co-hosted the event: Vietnam - US Business Summit with the theme: "Reshaping the bilateral economic relationship" with the participation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Mr. Dang Thanh Tam was honored to be one of the speakers at the Conference.

At the opening of the Summit, Ms. Virginia Foote - Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi (AmCham) affirmed that the 5th Vietnam - US Business Summit is an event to celebrate the partnership between Vietnam and the United States over the past 25 years, as well as the engagement activities of businesses of the two countries.

Virginia Foote, Vice President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi (AmCham)

“We will promote Vietnam's transformation and growth through production and business activities, contributing to the normalization of relationship between the two countries. We also desire to stimulate this relationship into hundreds of billions of dollars, continue to promote the growth of trade between the two countries", emphasized by the Vice President of AmCham.

At the same time, she said, US businesses were glad that Vietnam made commitments on climate change at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Clinate Change Conference (COP26). “We look forward to continuing to develop the field of clean energy and renewable energy in Vietnam. We have also connected with Vietnamese agencies in contributing to the development of power planning VIII”.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh spoke at the conference

Speaking at the conference, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that in the context of complicated disease situations, we had more experience and better conditions to deal with the epidemic and promote the reopening of the economy in the new context.

The head of the Vietnamese Government also affirmed that, in parallel with the development of Vietnam, the relationship between Vietnam and the United States had also progressed rapidly. “We can see that when there was no Free Trade Agreement between the two countries, the trade turnover was less than USD 500 million/year, however, by 2021 the two-way trade between the two countries reached USD 110 billion in difficult situation. The United States has become the second country with two-way trade turnover of over USD 100 billion with Vietnam”.

"It can be said that, up till now, we have controlled the epidemic and recovered quickly," the Prime Minister said, at the same time, affirming that Vietnam was confident in opening its economy with practical, basic and scientific foundations; and international experience. The Prime Minister affirmed that when the epidemic was well controlled, the economy had to be reopened.

The conference also discussed many issues such as: Accelerating growth and innovation through the digital economy; Meeting energy development needs to stimulate future growth in Vietnam; Promote sustainable investment and stable policies to promote economic recovery. The business communities of the two countries both recognized that the trade and investment relationships between Vietnam and the United States still have great room for development.

Joining as a speaker at the topic: "Promoting sustainable investment and stable policies to create momentum for economic recovery", Mr. Dang Thanh Tam - Chairman of KBC's Board of Directors shared:

Chairman of the Board of Directors of KBC – Mr. Dang Thanh Tam joined as a speaker at the Conference

“In the past few years, we have had a number of companies such as Foxconn, Luxshare, etc. invest in our Industrial Parks. They provide Airpods to Apple and invest huge amount of money. What are investors interested in? They are looking for high-tech supporting industries. The Vietnamese government is currently trying to create supporting industries. However, actually, for high-tech supporting industries, we are still labor and Vietnam wants the Government to support labor with higher working values. Vietnam needs more policies on this issue.

Secondly, I want to focus on the transparency that some of the speakers discussed about. Building a healthy and transparent investment environment is a vital factor, a key issue in attracting investment to Vietnam. In Vietnam, many legislations and circulations or the legal system in economic regions are not yet unified. With our experience, the quality of public services and investment support activities from the central government are completed speedily. Some provinces and localities support investors to handle administrative procedures quickly because they have a good understanding and create a very good investment environment. However, some provinces are different and slower in this matter. And that is why we need the Vietnamese government to create a system of policies, management and supporting activities to attract foreign investment. Therefore, we have proposed that the Government decentralize management to have a clear and transparent system of policies and regulations, and the time to complete investment procedures will be shortened.

And the most important thing I want to share is being ready to attract foreign investment because Vietnam needs to attract US investment with huge financial resources. When choosing to work with us, American investors always ask for big projects. Many American companies take a long time to invest in projects in Vietnam due to lack of preparation and other factors. The Vietnamese government as well as the localities that have everything readily available will be easier to attract investors, such as Thua Thien Hue province, which is gradually becoming a destination for foreign investors due to the quick issuance of the Investment Registration Certificate for foreign projects in the province. In addition, infrastructure is also a problem to emphasize because it can consume large investment capital, about VND 100 billion to focus on large projects for the construction and expansion of the infrastructure system”.

After 5 years of successful organization, the Vietnam - US Business Summit has become the most anticipated event of businesses of the two countries. With dynamism, innovation and creativity to adapt to the new normal, Vietnamese and US businesses have actively connected and cooperated with each other to prosper together.