Vietnam will continue to create a favourable investment climate for foreign businesses, including those from the US, to operate efficiently in the country, says Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh.
At a Vietnam-US economic roundtable in Washington DC
on February 10 (local time), Ninh stressed that in 2012 the government will
give high priority to containing inflation, stabilising the macroeconomy and
ensuring social security, while restructuring the economy and renovating the
growth model. 
US businesses show interest in Vietnam's potential market.
To achieve this goal, in addition to using domestic resources effectively, Vietnam will accelerate comprehensive international integration along with attracting foreign investment and improving the business environment, said Ninh.
He answered US businesses’ questions relating to Vietnam’s policies on investment attraction, information technology development, application of scientific and technological advances to economic development, human resource development, administrative reform, and economic restructuring.
Representatives from more than 20 leading US groups such as General Electric, Apple, Facebook, Google, Chevron, Lockheed Martin and CitiGroup valued Vietnam’s impressive achievements over the years and said they believe that the government’s anti-inflation measures will pay off, building up investor trust and creating a healthy and transparent business climate.
Many of them expressed keen interest and revealed investment and development projects in Vietnam.
TPP negotiations
Meeting with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, Deputy PM Ninh noted that trade and investment ties between Vietnam and the US are growing rapidly. Despite the impact of the global economic slowdown, two-way trade last year increased by more than 20 percent.
This is an impressive growth rate given the current global context, said Ninh.
Both host and guest highlighted the ongoing efforts made by Vietnam, the US and other partners in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), considering them an appropriate move towards promoting cooperation between the two countries, as well as among countries in the Pacific Rim.
Both countries need to work more closely to remove barriers and reach agreements in the end, said Ninh.
Kirk echoed Ninh’s view, saying TPP will give fresh impetus to bilateral relations.
To achieve the success, the Vietnamese Deputy PM suggested that both countries adopt flexible approaches and draw up a specific roadmap for implementing the agreement.
He expressed his hope that the US will offer Vietnam more time to cut taxes than other countries, as it did in bilateral negotiations for World Trade Organisation admission and the free trade agreement.
He also proposed that Kirk have his say in helping Vietnamese products penetrate the US market more easily and removing trade restrictions against Vietnamese farm products such as shrimp, tra and basa fish and honey imported into the US.
He requested that the US Trade Representative lobby the government to soon recognise Vietnam’s full market economy status (MES) and grant the generalised system of preferences (GSP) to the country.
A major partner of WB
Vietnam is one of the leading partners of the World Bank, confirmed WB President Robert Zoellick and Vice President of the International Finance Company (IFC) Rashad Kaldany.
Zoellick and Kaldany told Ninh at a meeting in Washington DC on February 10 that WB and IFC support the measures the Vietnamese government is employing to curb inflation, stabilise the macroeconomy and restructure its economy this year.
They all expressed optimism about Vietnam’s economic prospects in 2012 and said the world’s leading monetary and financial institutions will further develop cooperation programs with Vietnam within bilateral and multilateral frameworks.
The WB leader proposed that Vietnam accelerate the disbursement of WB-funded projects and effectively use loan sources.
(CPV/VOVNEWS)
