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VIR-news
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US giants reveal big ambitions
Update: 9-5-2007
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Vietnam has an excellent opportunity to develop into the top destination in the region for US investors.
Many of the 18 big US players, during a two-day visit to Vietnam last week led by the US-ASEAN Business Council, expressed wishes to invest in the infrastructure, petroleum, high-tech, education and communications fields. Several companies, which already have investment projects in Vietnam, said they would consider widening business scope.
General Electric president for Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam, Colin Low, said GE could exploit opportunities in infrastructure, health care, finance and human resources. These were also the areas Vietnam is calling for FDI. “I was very exciting about the opportunities to do business in Vietnam. Like many other US companies, we have plans to invest in Vietnam. We have been offering the Vietnamese Government our human resource training services. In New York, we have a GE centre which has capacity to train CEO and CFO for big enterprises,” said Low.
Raytheon International Inc. vice president Richard Bartnik said that talks with Vietnam’s leaders from different ministries in last week’s forum Vietnam - A Bright Future for American Business had been very useful. Raythenon, the world’s leading supplier of aerospace systems, wished to do business with Vietnam as the country is building many new airports.
“Vietnam is a new and challenging market for us. However, after talks in the forum, I can say that Vietnam is very open. Vietnamese high-ranking officials expressed their ambition to make their aviation industry more competitive,” said Bartnik.
Stephen Braim, IBM vice president in charge of Asia-Pacific region, said that the company planned to recruit thousands of IT engineers for the IBM centre in Ho Chi Minh City in the coming years. “We are very optimistic about our business in Vietnam”, said Braim and added that IBM products made in Vietnam would be supplied to many markets worldwide.
Doan Xuan Hung, director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of Economic Generalisation said the US businesses were very eager to learn about Vietnam’s market and investment environment. “I believe that after the forum, big US players will play more active role in Vietnam,” said Hung.
In a talk with Vietnam Investment Review before the visit, the US-ASEAN Business Council consular Frances A. Zwenig revealed that Vietnam and the US were preparing for at least six big projects which were scheduled to sign during President Nguyen Minh Triet’s visit to the US in June. Zwenig said US businesses in talks with Vietnamese leaders had pushed issues relating to transparency, simple administrative procedures, a safe investment environment and a cut in bureaucracy. In addition, companies express concerns on Vietnam’s implementation of WTO commitments.
“After Vietnam’s WTO accession, what are we waiting for? That is to continue implementing WTO commitments,” Ford Motor Vietnam director general Tim Tucker said.
Virginia Foote, chairwoman of the US-Vietnam Trade Council who is visiting Vietnam in a new role as chairwoman of Vietnam Partners, a US investment fund said: “There are many issues that businesses are worried about. They include the effective implementation of WTO commitments, fighting corruption and pace of decision making. Sometimes businesses are very disappointed because the decisions were made in a less timely manner than they should be. Many believed this should be improved.”
“We had intense and frank discussions and I think this is a very successful trip,” said Zwenig after the forum.
“We understand that the issues cannot be solved overnight”, she said and added that the US and Vietnam would continue work on the issues as well as potential projects.
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By Binh Chau
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