The U.S. will become the biggest investor in Vietnam in the two years to come, President of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council Matthew P. Daley told a press conference in Hanoi on May 13.
Daley, who leads a top-level U.S. company delegation during their three-day visit to Vietnam to look for investment opportunities, said despite of the global economic slump, U.S. companies are still upbeat about business in Vietnam.
This is why over 30 senior officials from 16 big groups namely Abbott Laboratories, AES, AIG, Caterpillar, Chevron, Citi, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Ford, General Electric, Guargian Industries, JhPIEGO, Monsanto, Pratt & Whitney, Time Warner and UPS have arrived in Vietnam.
During the visit from May 13-15, the U.S. biz delegation will have a meeting with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and other leaders to discuss opportunities to invest in agriculture, infrastructure, energy, transport, financial and banking services, aviation, human resources.
Stuart Dean, president of General Electric (GE) Southeast Asia, affirmed that Vietnam will be a strategic market for GE in the near future, adding that his company plans more investment in the Southeast Asian country, especially in infrastructure.
An official from Chevron said it had poured $300 million in an offshore gas exploitation project to help with electricity production in the Mekong Delta provinces.
Chevron has operated in Vietnam for a decade, and is waiting for the Vietnamese government’s approval for another project worth $4 billion, of which $2.5 will come from its own capital, he said.
Once approved, Chevron will gain the first position among U.S. investors in the Southeast Asian country, he noted.
The U.S. is now standing in the top ten largest foreign investors in Vietnam. Between January and April this year, it injected around $3.86 billion into Vietnam, making up over a half of the nation’s current FDI. (Local sources)
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