New US Consul General to boost trade, investment

The best way to improve US-Vietnam relations is to increase the economic exchange between the two countries, said the newly-assigned US Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City.

On November 5, Le Thanh An, the first Vietnamese American to be appointed as US Consul General to a major city like HCM City, said one of his priorities during his three-year term in Vietnam is to boost US trade and investment in Vietnam. He added that this would help increase jobs in the US as well as in Vietnam.

More US products brought into Vietnam will offer more choices for Vietnamese consumers, and businesses involved in trading, distributing and selling these products will help create jobs in both countries.

He pledged to do his best to prove the value of increased trade relations, and said he believed that US investors, including overseas Vietnamese businesses, are a major resource that Vietnam will need to tap in order to complete the transformation from a low-income country to an industrialised one, which Vietnam hopes to achieve by 2020.

The new Consul General expressed his wish to create more opportunities for outstanding Vietnamese students to study in the US, then return to Vietnam for work, and contribute to the development of their homeland.

He also hopes to improve diplomatic ties between the two countries. Regarding his personal goals, An said he wants to encourage charitable activities and assistance to orphanages, hospitals and schools.

The new Consul General said he felt honoured and lucky with his appointment, which allows him to return to the city where he was born and lived for ten years of his childhood.

An said though he has only a few childhood memories of Vietnam, he still feels the attraction of the country, its culture and people, particularly the ‘cai luong’ (renovated theatre) performances, which he used to see with his parents when he was small. – VNA

Tags: Vietnam US Trade

Posted by VBN on Nov 7 2010. Filed under Int'l Cooperation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry