Vietnamese President meets with California’s CEOs

12:03' 24/06/2007 (GMT+7)

VietNamNet Bridge - President Nguyen Minh Triet and the Vietnamese mission left California at 2.30pm, June 23 (local time), closing the five-day visit to the US. President Nguyen Minh Triet and Fabian Núñez, the Speaker of the California State Assembly (Photo: Tuan Nguyen). Previously, Mr. Triet met with congressmen of California, attended the Enterprise Forum held in Los Angeles, met with 20 top CEOs of California and visited a Vietnamese American family in California. The Enterprise Forum attracted the attendance of many US businesses in California, including many overseas Vietnamese entrepreneurs. At the forum, President Triet announced that the total value of contracts and agreements signed between Vietnamese and US companies during the visit was up to US$11 billion, exceeding the expectation. The President once again raised the message “Let’s come to Vietnam”. He, on behalf of the Vietnamese State, committed to do the best to improve the investment and business environment in Vietnam and create favourable conditions for foreign investors, including American investors. In the meeting with 20 top CEOs of California, the Vietnamese President said: “I’m very happy to meet you this morning. This is the last day of mine in the US. I met President Bush to discuss the issues of common interests and I want to inform you that the talks was fruitful, constructive and effective. I also met with US investors and this is the last meeting of mine with US businessmen”. The President mentioned the total value of contracts signed between Vietnamese and US businesses and emphasized that the figure would be higher and the two countries share the expectation to further strengthen cooperation, especially in economics, trade and investment. A representative of a financial investment fund, which has brought many US companies to Vietnam, said: “I’ve been to Vietnam 15 times and this country has left good impression on me. I’ve seen Vietnam as a dynamically developing country with a young population. Vietnam has many important seaports in Southeast Asia. I want to tell American businesses to go to invest and do business in Vietnam”. In response to the worry of a CEO who has not been in Vietnam yet about the infrastructure and Vietnam’s advantages to develop infrastructure, particularly highways and airports, Mr. Triet said that Vietnam plans to expand its north-south highways and railways and develop the transport systems between Hanoi and northern provinces and HCM City and southern provinces. He also said that Vietnam has a long coast with many seaports, which can welcome big ships. Vietnam is also expanding its system of airports. The President affirmed: “Vietnam is ready to open the door for foreign investment in infrastructure. The Ministry of Planning and Investment is the agency in charge of welcoming foreign investment in Vietnam”. World media highlights Vietnam-US talks Talks between visiting Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet and US President George W. Bush in Washington on June 22 have drawn the attention of global media outlets. Right after the talks, “BBC World” ran coverage on President Triet’s speech and estimated that there would be massive business opportunities for US enterprises wishing to do business in the Southeast Asian country. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Guardian and the Scotsman newspapers joined the chorus saying that the Vietnamese President Triet’s US visit beginning June 18 marked a new milestone in increasingly friendly relations between the two countries. Meanwhile, Spain’s “Nation” website said the significance of the talks between President Triet and President Bush has been manifested not only in a common goal to further boost bilateral trade relations but also in the first visit to the US by a Vietnamese Head of State since the war ended in 1975. The paper said that the determination to strengthen bilateral trade relations has shown through the signing of the Vietnam-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). Viet Nam Net