General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and State President To Lam (right) and Nick Ammann, Vice President of Global Government Affairs at Apple. (Photo: VNA)

Receiving the Apple representatives, Lam appreciated its successes in the world and in Vietnam in recent times; affirming that the investment and business expansion of Apple and its partners in Vietnam reflect the country's increasingly important position both in terms of strengthening the goods supply chain and developing markets for Apple products.

Vietnam has recently established a working group to implement cooperation with Apple, the leader said, expecting that it will be an effective cooperation mechanism that brings practical benefits to both sides.

He said that he hopes Apple, with its resources, experience and reputation, will engage in developing science and technology, innovation in general in Vietnam and promote cooperation with the National Innovation Centre (NIC) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment in particular.

He called on Apple and its partners to support Vietnamese enterprises in improving their production capacity and participating in the global supply chain; consider setting up a research and development (R&D) center at the NIC; consider providing scholarships for Vietnamese students in the fields of information technology, programming, electronics, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Apple Vice President Nick Ammann said that Vietnam is not only a great market but also a production base for Apple to supply its goods to the world.

He emphasised that many of Apple's key products are currently being manufactured in Vietnam and thanks to the support of the Vietnamese Government, the group is developing and expanding production.

He spoke highly of the investment prospects in Vietnam, as well as the value of the Vietnamese market in the group’s global strategy and the country’s potential for engaging more deeply in the supply chain of its important products.

At the meeting with the leaders of Meta Group, Vietnam’s top leader said that the country identifies digital transformation as one of the important driving forces for its development in a new era.

Party General Secretary and State President To Lam and Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta. (Photo: VNA)

He stressed that cooperation in science, technology and innovation has been seen as an important pillar in the Vietnam-US realtions and that ample room remains for their cooperation in the coming time.

He called on Meta to continue to work with Vietnamese agencies and partners, especially the NIC, to promote the implementation of specific cooperation activities in the fields of science-technology, innovation, AI, and Internet of Things (IoT).

He affirmed that the Party, State and People of Vietnam pledge to create all favourable conditions for US investors in general and Meta in particular to invest and do business effectively and sustainably in the country.

For his part, Meta's President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg shared the group’s plans to increase production in Vietnam for Metaverse virtual reality glasses, the group's latest spearhead after the traditional fields of social networks and messaging applications.

Revealing his plan to visit Vietnam next week, Clegg said he hopes to have the opportunity to introduce "Meta AI" for Vietnamese users to try for free, helping smart phone owners to access the "super tool" AI.

The Meta leader also committed to continuing to support and expand investment programmes and encourage innovation in Vietnam in the coming time.

In a meeting with Founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development of Supermicro Wally Liaw, Lam welcomed the IT corporation's cooperation proposal on developing AI data centres and AI server system manufacturing ecosystems.

The Vietnamese leader suggested that Supermicro and related partners soon negotiate a specific roadmap to implement cooperation projects in Vietnam.

Liaw said that Vietnam is a market with great potential, especially when it has policies to encourage the development of high-tech fields.

He added that the company has just signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam’s Sovico Group. He appreciated the development and investment opportunities in Vietnam, and vowed to continue cooperating with Vietnam to support its customers in particular and Vietnam in general in developing AI.

Receiving Stephen Schwarzman, Chairman and CEO of Blackstone, a global private equity firm, the Party General Secretary and State President said he hopes Blackstone will expand its investment in Vietnam in science-technology and innovation and offer capital for technology enterprises and startups in Vietnam.

Lam said green growth and sustainable development are important pillars in Vietnam's development orientation at this time and Vietnam identifies foreign investors play a major role in implementing the above goals.

He said he hopes Blackstone, with its network of partners and customers, will support Vietnam in accessing preferential credit financial sources, and attracting foreign investors to Vietnam to invest in green and sustainable development fields.

The Vietnamese leader appreciated Blackstone’s plan to invest in developing energy transition projects in Vietnam, asking it to discuss and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant agencies and partners to implement investment activities in this field.

For his part, Schwarzman expressed the firm’s desire to expand investment in Vietnam.

At a reception for Jake Siewert, Managing Director and Head of Global Public Policy and Political Risk at Warburg Pincus, one of the oldest and largest private equity funds in the world, the top leader of Vietnam applaued the effective investment and business cooperation activities of Warburg Pincus globally and in Vietnam.

He said Vietnam has announced a plan to mobilise resources to implement the political declaration on the establishment of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP), contributing to the realisation of the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

Therefore, the country hopes Warburg Pincus to connect and work with domestic partners to implement specific cooperation projects in the areas of renewable energy, new energy, grid infrastructure upgrade, carbon recovery and storage, governance capacity building and human resources training, Lam said.

Siewert said that Warburg Pincus has invested about 4 billion USD in Vietnam, making the country its third largest investment destination in Asia, after China and India. He noted his firm wishes to learn about more investment opportunities in Vietnam, particularly in green finance and renewable enery.

Also on September 23, Lam met with Eric Schmidt, former Chairman and CEO of Google, who played a key role in developing Google into one of the world's largest technology companies.

He asked Schmidt, who is now a consultant for Google and related partners, to continue to back investment and business activities, research and development in Vietnam in high-tech fields.

For his part, Schmidt said he believes that Vietnam can absolutely become a software centre of Asia, emphasising the most optimal thing for Vietnam now is to establish software companies specialising in AI./.