President Tran Dai Quang addressed the conference (Photo: Viet Cuong/VOV)

Addressing the event, President Tran Dai Quang said relations between Vietnam and the United States have seen substantive progress in line with the orientations of their comprehensive partnership in 2013, the Joint Vision Statement reached during the historical visit by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in July 2015, and the Joint Statement reached during the visit by former President Barack Obama last May. The President said that current US counterpart Donald Trump’s acceptance of the invitation to attend the APEC Summit in Vietnam this year demonstrates the US’s interest in promoting bilateral cooperation. He added that development cooperation remains of importance to Vietnam-US relations in order to push trade and investment ties:“I encourage US businesses to make investment in Vietnam in areas of US strength and of Vietnam’s needs for co-development in areas such as energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, finance-banking, education and training, and tourism. Vietnam hopes to export to the US its farm produce, seafood, timber products, garment-textile, electronics, and consumer products, while importing hi-tech commodities to serve the domestic economy.”

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the American Chamber of Commerce signed a cooperative deal (Photo: Viet Cuong/VOV)

 President Tran Dai Quang said the Vietnamese State applauds investment projects from  US businesses and will provide favorable conditions for foreign investors to make long-term investment in Vietnam. US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said the workshop is an opportunity for the two countries’ businesses to talk directly and share their experiences. He added that US businesses are aware of Vietnam’s commitments to reform and believe that these efforts will continued to be realized.