PM urges Apple to make Vietnam a key supply chain destination

At a meeting with Apple vice president of global policy Nick Ammann on Thursday (U.S. time) in New York, Chinh invited the U.S. tech giant to expand its investment in Vietnam and act as a bridge between the two countries so more American companies will pour their money into Vietnam.

He also urged Apple to help Vietnamese companies increase their manufacturing capabilities and to train Vietnamese staff in high technology.

Chinh wants Apple to consult the National Innovation Center in building an R&D center with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.

Ammann said that Vietnam was a key manufacturing hub of Apple. He said that the company appreciated the government’s support, especially during the pandemic.

The company is interested in clean energy and wants its suppliers in Vietnam to have access to clean energy. It also wants to help develop Vietnamese human resource, especially in software development.

In Vietnam, 32 factories belong to Apple’s suppliers, and they exported $30 billion worth of products last year.

PM Chinh also met with Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of government affairs & public policy.

Bhatia said he valued the strategies of Vietnam and the U.S. after the two countries established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

He proposed partnerships in cloud computing and in online education.

PM Chinh urged Google to expand its investment in Vietnam and said he would task government bodies with establishing partnerships with the company in terms of information security, digital skills training, digital transformation and human resources development.

In a meeting with a representative of aviation giant Boeing, Chinh affirmed that the company had been a reliable supplier of aircraft and air services to Vietnam for years.

He urged Boeing to expand its manufacturing and supply chain in Vietnam and soon build an aircraft maintenance center in the country.

Chinh wants the company to increase training and technology transfer to help Vietnam participate deeper in the supply chain of Boeing.

He also asked Boeing to continue partnering closely with Vietnamese entities to complete the delivery of jets that they have ordered.

Chinh also witnessed the signings of several partnerships between Vietnamese and American businesses, including a memorandum between Vietnam tech giant FPT and U.S. automation company Silvaco in the development of semiconductors.

The PM is on a working trip, from Sept. 17 to 22, in the U.S, where he has been meeting with representatives of U.S. government and major businesses and participating in a United Nations meeting. New York is his final destination after San Francisco and Washington.