Receiving 50 senior executives from America’s leading companies into his cabinet meeting room after he delivered a key report on the state of the economy to the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said “The government is very supportive of your business plans in Vietnam.” Recalling that he challenged the United States to become the “number one investor in Vietnam” during a meeting with the Council’s companies in New York last September he expressed strong belief that this would happen “soon.”

The Prime Minister Dung also noted that now was the time for the two countries to negotiate a two way framework for investment. In response, US-ASEAN Business Council President Matthew P. Daley committed the efforts of the Council and its members in support of the negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty.

Standing Secretary Truong Tan Sang, a member of the Politburo who heads the Central Party Secretariat, echoed this message as he received the USABC mission in the headquarters of the Communist Party. Mr. Sang stressed that the companies on the US-ASEAN Business Mission, “meet the sectoral needs of Vietnam” and again reiterated the Vietnamese government’s hope that the United States will become the number one investor in Vietnam soon.

“The fact that we have on this mission 23 companies, many of them Fortune 500 with 5 in the top 7, shows that Vietnam is becoming a great destination for American businesses,” said Council President Matthew Daley, who co-led the delegation with Stuart Dean, President of GE Southeast Asia and Chairman of the US-Vietnam Business Committee. “We believe we can make significant contributions to the government’s goal of turning Vietnam into a fully industrialized country by 2020 if not sooner.”

During its tour of May 5-7, besides the meeting with the Party and the Prime Minister, the delegation also had meetings with Chairman of the Office of the Government Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Minister of Finance Vu Van Ninh, and Vice Ministers of Education and Training, Science and Technology, Agriculture and Rural Development, Public Health, Transportation, Information and Communications, Planning and Investment, Trade and Industry, and the top management of Electricity of Vietnam and Petro Vietnam.

“We had fruitful and detailed discussions and feel confident in investing in Vietnam,” said mission co-leader Stuart Dean. “Vietnam’s leaders identify as top priorities the development of infrastructure, manufacturing, technology and capacity building and these are the strengths of American companies,” Mr. Dean added. During the meeting with the USABC mission that included US Ambassador Michael Michalak in the audience, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made clear Vietnam’s preference for investors in infrastructure and openly praised GE’s $100 million investment in Hai Phong to produce gas and wind turbine components as an example.

Members of the USABC mission this year include AES, APCO Worldwide, Boeing, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, The Dow Chemical Company, ExxonMobil, FedEx Express, Ford Motor Company, The General Electric Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Guardian, Harrah’s, IBM, JHPIEGO, Johnson & Johnson, Monsanto, Pratt & Whitney United Technologies Company, QUALCOMM, STAR Group, State Street Bank and Trust, Underwriters Laboratories, UPS, and Vietnam Partners.

The companies were looking for investment, sourcing and sales opportunities in a wide range of sectors including agriculture, infrastructure, energy, transport, aviation, finance, health services, express delivery, human resource development, information and communication technology, and entertainment.

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The US-ASEAN Business Council and affiliates are dedicated to strengthening bilateral and US ASEAN relations and building strong economic and commercial ties. Members of the Council include Fortune 1000 companies in support of promoting trade, investment, and technology cooperation, advancing US ASEAN relations through strong participation in public-private partnerships, and committing to development and corporate social responsibility. The Council's members are represented in diverse industries, including aerospace, agribusiness, automobiles, computers and information technology, consumer goods, energy exploration and development, express delivery services, financial services, health care and pharmaceuticals, media & entertainment, mining, software, and telecommunications.

For information on the US-ASEAN Business Council or general information visit www.us-asean.org.