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The year 2010 is a special opportunity for Vietnam and the U.S. to review and assess their progresses and achievements in investment cooperation after 15 years of the normalisation of the two countries’ diplomatic relations (1995-2010), said US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael W. Michalak.
Over the past 15 years, the U.S. surpassed 83 countries and territories to become Vietnam’s biggest foreign investor with a combined registered capital of US$9.8 billion in 2009, making up 45.6 percent of the total foreign investment in the country.
According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), in the first five months of this year, the US ranked fourth among foreign investors in Vietnam with 21 new projects totalling US$961 million and six existing projects asking for a combined capital raising of US$60.6 million.
From 1998 when the Law on Foreign Investment took effect in Vietnam up to the end of Jan. 2010, the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau was the country’s leading locality in attracting US investment, with more than US$5.6 billion for 14 projects.
Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City was leading other localities in the number of U.S. investment projects with 191 valued at around US$690 million.
Many U.S. projects have entered the list of the country’s top 100 FDI projects, including the US$4.1 billion Winvest deluxe resort in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province which ranks fifth in the list.
Additionally, the official inauguration of the Vietnam-U.S. business forum last April with a close bilateral coordination mechanism has been seen as another important landmark in the two countries’ trade and investment cooperation.
Executive Director Herb Cochran of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham) said that Vietnam is being considered an optimal investment destination for U.S. businesses in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
That Vietnam assumes the ASEAN’s presidency this year has created more investment opportunities for both U.S. and other foreign businesses.
U.S. businesses have investment strengths in the country’s financial, banking and insurance services, hi-tech, pharmaceutical chemistry, energy, mechanical engineering, human resources development, communications, training and infrastructure development.
A number of U.S. businesses are investing in building satellite plants in Vietnam to assist their factories in China and India .
Addressing a talk on Vietnamese businesses after 15 years of the normalisation of the Vietnam-U.S. diplomatic relations held in Hanoi last May, U.S. Ambassador W. Michalak said the U.S. wished to continue negotiating and finalising the bilateral investment agreement with Vietnam in order to further expand investment cooperation opportunities for businesses of the two countries.
The U.S. also wanted to accelerate its negotiation on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement with Vietnam and other partners and pledged to help Vietnam deeply integrate into the global economy, he added.
According to Deputy Head of the FIA Nguyen Xuan Trung, the Vietnamese government will carry out solutions to elevate its investment ties with the U.S., including assisting the licensed investment projects and boosting activities of the Vietnam-U.S. Consultation Council as well as negotiations on big joint-venture projects.
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