Strong Vietnam-US Relationship Built on Mutual Respect, Trust and Common Aspirations

It is a credit to the Vietnamese and American people that our two countries have been able to move beyond the tragedies of our shared past to build such a vibrant and strong friendship. Trade is the cornerstone of the US-Vietnam relationship and great changes have taken place in the development of the American business community over the past two decades. Soon after the lifting of the trade embargo by President Bill Clinton, a small group of Americans founded the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (AmCham) at its first meeting at the Dragon Hotel near West Lake in April 1994. Many of our longtime members were instrumental is helping normalize the bilateral relationship, and over the years, AmCham has grown into a vibrant organization that plays a key role in the commercial life of this country. Business activity started slowly for Americans here, but now we see US companies and investors active in almost every sector of Vietnam’s economy. In 1995, bilateral trade was just US$451 million. It is now around US$45 billion and Vietnam exports more goods to the United States than to any other country. The past two decades have also seen Vietnamese people’s incomes quadruple. American companies have invested billions of dollars here, integrating Vietnam into the global supply chain, creating quality jobs for Vietnamese workers, and opening a new market for US goods and services. Americans are selling lipstick, soft drinks and beer, cars, aircraft, software, industrial goods, educational services, mobile applications, financial and legal services, and so much more. The future is bright in Vietnam, and while the US already buys more Vietnamese goods than any other country, I expect to see even more US business and investment activity in the next few years.

 

 

It is a competitive world and there is no time for Vietnam to be content with past successes. AmCham encourages Vietnam’s new government to make further efforts to improve governance and transparency, change the behaviour of state-owned enterprises, strengthen intellectual property rights, and ensure that legislation enables and facilitates rather than restricts business opportunities for our members. As major investors here, American companies have an interest in Vietnam’s continued success. We believe that the business climate can best be helped by actions that increase productivity and reduce the costs and risks of doing business in Vietnam. The new government can best ensure growth by maintaining macroeconomic and political stability, building world-class infrastructure, intensifying its effort on upgrading workforce skills and improving the ease of doing business here -including addressing areas where inconsistencies, inefficiencies, and unfair practices persist. AmCham remains confident in Vietnam’s long-term prospects and we will continue to play a helpful and constructive role, to speak out on positions of interest to our members, and to be a strong advocate for a better business and economic environment in Vietnam.

 

I believe that the Trans Pacific Partnership represents the next step in Vietnam’s integration into the global economy and the agreement will bring great opportunities for Vietnamese and American companies and investors as trade barriers fall. AmCham views the TPP as extremely important to the bilateral economic relationship and to US-Vietnam relations overall. I expect the TPP to have a transformative effect on Vietnam’s business environment and the agreement will offer new opportunities to help Vietnam’s strategic drive to industrialize, modernize and globalize. The TPP, once implemented, will enable the private sector greater access into key markets, will stimulate competition, will attract additional foreign investment, and will help build key supply chain infrastructure -- thus creating significant opportunities for Vietnamese businesses, and jobs and higher incomes for Vietnamese workers. In the meantime, Vietnam should make every effort now to entice foreign investment and resources to help create a stable and modern economy.

 

This will be President Obama’s first visit to Vietnam and is only the third presidential visit here in the post-war era. President Bill Clinton visited in late 1999 and President George W. Bush was here for an APEC Summit in 2006. During the President’s visit, AmCham and VCCI are cooperating to organize a business event focusing on taking the trade and investment relationship to the next level. The President’s visit comes at an important time as the US Congress prepares to consider ratifying the TPP agreement later this year. The TPP is the centrepiece of President Obama’s trade agenda and AmCham shares the President’s enthusiasm for this landmark trade agreement. It is important that Vietnamese people know that when President Obama came into office seven years ago, he made it clear that he would not let the conflicts and animosities of the past dictate our future. He believes in a strong US-Vietnam relationship built on mutual respect, trust, and the common aspirations of our two peoples. The President’s trip will focus on many areas of cooperation - many of which weren’t possible just a few years ago - including regional security, military cooperation, human rights concerns, education, climate change, global health, energy security, disaster response and more. I know President Obama believes in a bright future for Vietnam’s 92 million citizens – who have a median age of only 29 years old. He feels strongly that the key to the future is having an education grounded in critical thinking and inspired by the free exchange of ideas, in having a rules-based economic and trading architecture that is built on transparency and competition, in having respect for the rights, freedom, and dignity of all people, and in having a society invested in maintaining peace and stability around the world. That is what he will be discussing in Vietnam and I know the Vietnamese people are looking forward to his visit here.