[Newsletter | May] – The Prime Minister Received Mr. Tim Cook, Hoping Apple Would Expand Investment in Vietnam

On the morning of April 16, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed Apple Group CEO Tim Cook to visit and work in Vietnam.

This is Tim Cook’s first time in Vietnam. The visit follows an audience with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in the US in September 2022. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulated Apple’s successes globally as well as in Vietnam over the past time. The Prime Minister highly appreciated the important contributions of Apple and its partners to the development of Vietnam, including bringing Vietnam deeper into Apple’s global supply chain; Vietnam has an increasingly important position in the development of the market for Apple products.

According to the Prime Minister, Vietnam – US relations are continuing to develop, the two countries have recently upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which is the foundation for promoting increasingly effective cooperation in all fields, including key areas of cooperation in science and technology, innovation, training high-quality human resources, semiconductors, and digital transformation.

The Head of Government proposed that Apple embrace a role of providing a supportive voice by encouraging the US Government and Congress to soon recognize Vietnam’s Market Economy Regulation, and to remove Vietnam from the list of Restrictions on US high-tech exports.

Vietnam continues to create a favorable economic climate, and accompanies and supports businesses, including foreign businesses, to invest effectively and sustainably to achieve long-term development in Vietnam. The Prime Minister hopes that Apple will expand their investment cooperation with Vietnam, helping Vietnam participate more deeply in the Apple production chain, supply chain, and value chain for the US and globally, in the spirit of “harmonious benefits and shared risks”.

The Vietnamese Government is ready to coordinate with Apple to establish a Working Group to support Apple in investing and expanding operations in Vietnam. Vietnam request Apple to increase support and advice on Vietnam’s development in science, technology, and innovation by promoting cooperation and association with Innovation Centers and software parks in Vietnam; In the immediate future, research is needed to establish a research and development (R&D) center at the National Innovation Center.

 

The Prime Minister also asked Apple to research the possibility of providing scholarships for Vietnamese students in the fields of information technology, programming, electronics, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI), etc., and to support Vietnam in a high-quality engineer training program, including 50,000 top engineers in the semiconductor industry.

Apple Group CEO Tim Cook was impressed when he saw Vietnam’s development process, especially the outstanding development and vitality of the science, technology, and innovation community in Vietnam, as well as the prominence of Apple products in social life in Vietnam.

Mr. Tim Cook proposed a number of cooperation agreements with Vietnam in the fields of clean energy, digital transformation, and human resource training.

 

Mr. Tim Cook said, that with two legal entities in Vietnam, more than 70 factories original equipment manufacturing partners, 40 distribution partners, and over 5,000 authorized stores, Apple has created jobs for about 200 thousand workers in Vietnam.

However, Apple’s opportunity for new cooperation in Vietnam is still huge and it is possible to get better results in the future. Therefore, Apple is ready to join the new Working Group to promote investment and expand operations in Vietnam as proposed by the Prime Minister. He wishes to further promote investment activities in Vietnam, especially for developing Vietnamese high-tech products and Vietnamese developed applications offered in Apple’s App Store, bringing Vietnamese innovations to not only meet domestic customers’ needs, but to spread globally.

Mr. Tim Cook highly agrees with Vietnam’s development orientation as suggested by the Prime Minister, including its green and sustainable development strategy, with two key factors being people and the planet, as well as for preserving and promoting national cultural values and the vision of “internationalizing Vietnamese cultural values and nationalizing the cultural quintessence of humanity”.

Apple is ready to cooperate with Vietnam in the global energy transition to reducing net emissions to zero by 2050, while exporting and promoting Vietnamese cultural and economic values to the world, through Apple products and applications on Apple’s App Store.

 

 

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/thu-tuong-tiep-ong-tim-cook-mong-muon-apple-mo-rong-dau-tu-voi-viet-nam-2271177.html