Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Vietnam

At the reception, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung expressed his pleasure to welcome the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper and members of the US Embassy delegation to visit and work in Nghe An.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized that the Ambassador's visit has special significance, right after President Joe Biden's visit to Vietnam from September 10-11 at the invitation of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. The visit is considered "historic" between the two countries as it officially upgraded the relationship between the two countries to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

This is the highest level in Vietnam's bilateral relations, opening a new historical period in the relationship between Vietnam and the United States and bringing benefits between Vietnamese localities, including Nghe An province, and partners from the United States.

In addition, on the occasion of attending the High-level General Debate of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly from September 17 to September 23, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had bilateral activities in the United States, aiming to deepen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries, concretizing the results of the recent visit of US President Joe Biden to Vietnam.

Expressing his joy at visiting Nghe An province - the hometown of President Ho Chi Minh - for the first time and thanking the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee for his warm welcome, US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper emphasized that President Joe Biden's recent visit to Vietnam was a "historic" visit, a turning point in the bilateral relationship between Vietnam and the United States. The two countries' upgrading of relations to the level of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership demonstrates the importance of Vietnam and the importance attached to the relationship between the two countries.

Ambassador Marc E. Knapper said that the visit to Nghe An not only demonstrates the potential of Nghe An province but also deepens the relationship between the United States and Vietnam in general and Nghe An province in particular, while opening up cooperation between the two countries in the fields of semiconductor industry, workforce training, high technology, etc.

At the meeting, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung gave an overview of the natural conditions and socio-economic situation of Nghe An province to Ambassador Marc E. Knapper. Nghe An is like a "miniature Vietnam" with all types of transportation, economic scale ranked 10th out of 63 provinces and cities; growth rate in 2022 is 9.08%, in the first 6 months of 2023 it reached 5.79%.

In particular, in recent years, Nghe An has emerged as a bright spot in terms of investment attraction results, especially foreign investment. In 2022, Nghe An attracted nearly 1 billion USD, ranking 10th nationwide. In the first 9 months of 2023, Nghe An attracted 1.272 billion USD, rising to rank 6th out of 63 provinces and cities nationwide.

Nghe An has prepared synchronous and modern infrastructure conditions in 5 industrial parks in the Southeast Economic Zone to welcome investors to explore opportunities and decide to invest in the province.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also said that currently in the province there is one US project in the garment sector with a total investment of 2.5 million USD. However, Nghe An has attracted 9 investors in the field of supplying electronic components, network equipment... for US corporations with a total investment of nearly 1.7 billion USD.

In terms of trade relations, export turnover to the United States in 2022 reached more than 246 million USD and in the first 8 months of 2023 reached 212 million USD. Import turnover from the United States in 2022 reached more than 23 million USD and in the first 8 months of 2023 reached 18.6 million USD.

Nghe An province currently has a number of projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) such as: Improving emergency response capacity for the Red Cross, Emergency relief for people affected by the Covid-19 epidemic in Vietnam... Nghe An has also received English scholarship support for students in the province.

Every year, Nghe An province has closely coordinated with the Vietnam Agency for Searching for Missing in Action (MIA Vietnam) as well as US MIA working groups. Currently, the Vietnam-US Joint Team is conducting excavation activities at Thanh Tien Commune, Thanh Chuong District, Nghe An Province.

On this occasion, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Duc Trung sincerely thanked the cooperation and assistance of US Government agencies as well as US non-governmental agencies for Nghe An province in the past time and hoped to receive better support in the future.

Based on the province's conditions, Nghe An hopes that businesses, investors or partners of investors from the United States will seek investment opportunities in the province in the fields of processing, manufacturing, production of electronic components, semiconductor equipment, high-tech agriculture, financial services, banking; innovation, digital economy, green economy, and circular economy.

In the field of Education and Training, Nghe An hopes to continue receiving support from the United States in training human resources to meet the province's requirements in the coming period, when the relationship between Vietnam and the United States reaches a new height. At the same time, it hopes that the United States will pay attention to supporting the province in social security, education, and health care in mountainous areas and for ethnic minorities.

In particular, Nghe An has just been issued Resolution No. 39 by the Politburo on the construction and development of Nghe An province to 2030, with a vision to 2045; at the same time, the Prime Minister has approved the Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050. This is an extremely important political and practical basis for Nghe An to develop rapidly and sustainably, achieving development goals, including conditions to open up cooperation opportunities with partners, including partners from the United States.

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee believes that the Ambassador will have a successful term, making many contributions to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and the United States, as well as the relationship between US partners and Vietnamese partners, including Nghe An province. Nghe An province also hopes that the US Embassy in Vietnam in general and Ambassador Marc E. Knapper in particular will continue to support Nghe An province in connecting with US investors.

Ambassador Marc E. Knapper expressed his gratitude to Nghe An province for its efforts in searching for US soldiers missing in action during the war. The United States also looks forward to working with Vietnam to strengthen the value chain in the semiconductor industry and other high-tech manufacturing sectors in Vietnam, contributing to Vietnam’s high-tech ecosystem and looking forward to Nghe An’s active participation.

Ambassador Marc E. Knapper also emphasized that Nghe An has attracted many FDI projects, with many high-tech companies from many countries, creating a high-tech ecosystem for Nghe An. This is a factor attracting investors and companies from the United States to invest in Nghe An. In the coming time, the United States will continue to cooperate and support Nghe An in the fields of preventing and combating human trafficking, defense, security and many other fields.