 New York (VNA) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left New York on the evening of September 28 (local time), after attending the 62nd session of the United Nations General Assembly.
Earlier, PM Dung called at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), met with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, worked with the Viet Nam-US Senior Advisory Council on Enhancement of Viet Nam’s Competitiveness, and received leaders from US leading groups.
At the NYSE, the government leader witnessed the signing of a cooperation agreement between the NYSE and the Ha Noi Securities Trading Centre in the fields of personnel training, managerial experience exchange and building of trading systems.
PM Dung said he hoped that the NYSE would become a strategic partner of Viet Nam’s stock exchanges, thus helping to develop the Vietnamese financial market and beef up Viet Nam-US economic ties.
The Vietnamese PM rang the bell to start the September 28 trading session of the NYSE.
At his meeting with Croatian President Stjepan Mesic, PM Dung affirmed that Viet Nam attaches great importance to strengthening its friendly and cooperative relations with traditional friends, including Croatia.
President Mesic said that he would vote for Viet Nam’s non-permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council and that he would lead a delegation of Croatian entrepreneurs to visit Viet Nam soon to explore investment opportunities in tourism, shipbuilding and machinery manufacturing.
During his working session with the Viet Nam-US Senior Advisory Council on Enhancement of Viet Nam’s Competitiveness, PM Dung spoke highly of the council’s contributions to raising the competitive capacity of Vietnamese goods as well as the country’s economy.
Also on September 28, the PM received leaders from the US-ASEAN Business Council (UABC), Havard University and US leading companies.
PM Dung appreciated the US-ASEAN Business Council’s efforts to boost the Viet Nam-US relationship, particularly since the Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status took effect.
The government leader singled out an eight-fold surge in two-way trade over the past six years to nearly 10 billion USD in 2006. US businesses have to date poured close to 5 billion USD in Viet Nam, ranking 6th amongst foreign investors in the Southeast Asian country, he added.
UABC Chairman Martin J. Sullivan, who is also President and Chief Executive Officer of the American International Group (AIG), urged the Government of Viet Nam to continue taking measures to improve its business environment and encourage foreign investment influxes.
The AIG CEO expressed interests in investing in infrastructure, oil and gas, energy, hi-technology, education, training and communications in Viet Nam.
Welcoming leaders of Havard University, PM Dung stressed that Viet Nam is in need of assistance from international organisations regarding human resource development.
The Havard University leaders told his host that the university have over the past years trained 60 Vietnamese students, of whom 15 majored in business administration.
Talking with top executives from US corporations, including AIG, Sem Group, Bantry Bay Ventures-Asia, Exxon Mobil, Conoco Phillips, SSA Marine, Boeing, Gannon and Alcoa, the PM expressed thanks for their support of Viet Nam’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as well as their positive contributions to the US’s approving of the PNTR with Viet Nam.
The same day, PM Dung also witnessed the signing of major contracts between Vietnamese and US enterprises, including those between the Viet Nam National Shipping Lines (Vinalines) and the City Group and the SSA Marine to develop Vinalines’s fleets, seaports and maritime services.-Enditem |