The event welcomed the participation of Deputy Consul General of Viet Nam in San Francisco Ngo Quang Anh and more than 100 investors, representatives of US enterprises and Viet Nam – US economic organizations.
In his opening remarks, Da Nang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho highlighted the strong growth in the bilateral relationship between Viet Nam and US over the past few years. He underlined that the fruitful outcome in the economic and trade coordination had laid a concrete foundation for the development in the two countries’ relation. The US is one of the biggest trading partners of Viet Nam with two-way trading volume increasing more than 100 times in 24 years (1995 – 2019). In terms of investments, US currently ranks 11th with 951 projects having an investment capital of 9.2 billion USD. In Da Nang, there are 63 FDI projects from US investors with an investment capital of 595 million USD, accounting for 19% of the total FDI capital in Da Nang.
Mr. Huynh Duc Tho also pointed out that having an edge in stable political system, safe living environment and and a dynamic labor force with reasonable labor costs, Viet Nam would be an ideal destination for all potential investors. In that context, Da Nang emerges as one of the most attractive destinations of the Central region. The city authority always considered the US as the focal point for investment promotion activities and called for cooperation from capable US investors and enterprises. Specifically, the city is looking for US investors in the fields of IT, electronic devices, aerospace, automation, AI, supporting technology, healthcare, education and real estates.
Speaking at the event, Deputy Consul General of Viet Nam in San Francisco Ngo Quang Anh claimed that the workshop would give US investors an insight into the business environment of Da Nang - one of the most dynamic cities in Viet Nam, the powerhouse for growth of Central Viet Nam and encouraged more US investors to come to the city for investments in hi-tech industries, supporting industries, IT, services, education and healthcare etc.
During Q&A session, the city leaders clarified enterprises' concerns on human resource development policies; protection of intellectual property rights; investment incentives for supporting industry in Hi-Tech Park, Centralized IT Park; SMEs, start-up enterprises supporting programs as well as the stability of the legal policies when doing business in Da Nang. Thereby, the US businesses expressed positive feedback on the investment climate and preferential policies and had high hopes of future cooperation prospects.
Mr. Kevin Loebbaka, CEO of Universal Alloy Corporation, the owner of Sunshine Aerospace Components Manufacturer Project in Da Nang Hi-tech Park, also gave a speech on his experience of investing in Da Nang to US enterprises. He affirmed, with the dedication and close support of the city authority, together with the advantages on strategic location, ideal living environment and a young, dynamic and high qualified human resource, Da Nang is a must-see destination for businesses planning their expansion in Southeast Asia.
Representative of Ai20X Silicon Valley - a network of global leading experts and enterprises in the field of technology and business consulting, recognized the advantages of Da Nang in attracting tech enterprises and introduced their cooperative project to develop human resource training, supply chain, start-up incubation and improve investment connectivity between Da Nang and the US.
Within the framework of the event, leaders of Da Nang People's Committee together with delegates witnessed the signing ceremony of three MOUs. The MOU between Da Nang Hi-Tech Park and Industrial Parks Management Board with Ai20X Silicon Valley focuses on the cooperation on developing Da Nang Hi-tech Park to become a R&D and incubation center, a gateway of technology transfer for market expansion, an expert hub and organizing promotion activities.
The second MOU is between Meritronics AMT and Da Nang IT Park Developers on jointly establishing “Trung Nam Meritronics Technology JSC” to provide electronic manufacturing services at Da Nang IT Park. The MOU between Ai20X Silicon Valley and Da Nang IT Park Developers on cooperation and service provision to develop Da Nang IT Park to become “an expanded Silicon Valley”.
In his closing remarks, Mr. Huynh Duc Tho once again affirmed the city authority’s commitments in continuously improving the investment environment, creating the most favorable conditions for investors. He looked forward to an influx of US investments into Da Nang in the coming time.
Besides, the city delegation will also visit and work with a number of reputable US enterprises to showcase opportunities for cooperation at Da Nang Hi-Tech Park and IT Park. Specifically, Chairman Huynh Duc Tho made a pledge to support investment procedures for construction of a robot manufacturing project by Alton Industry from the US in Da Nang Hi-tech Park.
IPA Da Nang
