Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Mr. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple of the United States – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
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Attending the meeting were Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung, and Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat.
This is the first time Mr. Tim Cook has visited Vietnam. Previously, in May 2022 in the United States, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a meeting with Apple’s CEO.
At the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh welcomed Mr. Tim Cook to visit Vietnam for the first time; thanked him for accepting the Prime Minister’s invitation to visit Vietnam when the Prime Minister visited Apple during his working trip to the US in May 2022; congratulated and highly appreciated Apple’s successes globally and in Vietnam in recent times.
The Prime Minister also thanked Apple and its partners for their important contributions to Vietnam’s development, creating jobs for the people, bringing Vietnam deeper into Apple’s global supply chain, and having an increasingly important position in Apple’s development strategy.
According to the Prime Minister, Vietnam – US relations continue to develop well, the two countries have just upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (September 2023); creating a foundation for promoting increasingly effective cooperation in all areas. In which, the key areas of cooperation are science and technology, innovation, training high-quality human resources, semiconductors, digital transformation and energy transition, responding to climate change, the environment, and high-quality healthcare. Vietnam has become a major trading partner of the United States and is an important link in the supply chain of many types of goods for the US market.
The Prime Minister said that, with the desire to create a foundation and conditions for foreign investors to operate stably for a long time and develop sustainably, Vietnam’s major development orientations are also in line with the strategies of investors, meeting the requirements and supporting investors.
The Prime Minister suggested that Apple focus on investing in developing and expanding business operations in Vietnam – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
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The Prime Minister took the time to inform Mr. Tim Cook about Vietnam’s remarkable achievements in nearly 40 years of renovation; about the country’s fundamental development principles and policies, foreign affairs, economic, defense, and cultural policies. The Prime Minister emphasized that these are consistent and comprehensive policies and Vietnam has consistently implemented these policies in a stable, long-term, effective, and sustainable manner under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
Vietnam is carrying out 3 strategic breakthroughs in perfecting institutions; developing high-quality human resources, improving people’s knowledge, and fostering talents; building infrastructure (in transportation, information technology, medical infrastructure, education, society, etc.), promoting digital transformation, digitizing procedures, and reforming administrative procedures to meet the requirements and support investors.
Vietnam is making efforts to renew traditional growth drivers (investment, export, consumption) and strongly promote the development of new growth drivers such as digital economy, green economy, circular economy, sharing economy, knowledge economy, response to climate change… on the basis of strong application of science and technology, innovation and start-ups.
According to the Prime Minister, the room for cooperation between Vietnam and Apple is still huge on the foundation of the relationship between the two countries. Vietnam also has a large domestic consumption market with a population of 100 million people, many Vietnamese people love and are familiar with Apple products. Vietnam also participates in 17 bilateral and multilateral FTAs with about 60 major economies in the world.
The Prime Minister said that the Vietnamese side is ready to cooperate with Apple to establish a Working Group to support Apple in investing and expanding its operations in Vietnam quickly, strongly, sustainably, and lastingly, contributing to promoting the realization of the new framework of relations between the two countries on the basis of “harmonizing interests and sharing risks”.
The Prime Minister suggested that Apple focus on investing in developing and expanding business operations in Vietnam, identifying Vietnam as a stronghold of Apple globally; continue to advocate for suppliers in Apple’s supply chain to expand their investment and business in Vietnam, bring qualified Vietnamese enterprises to participate more deeply in Apple’s value chain; strengthen support and advise Vietnam to complete its legal system and policy mechanisms for development in science and technology and innovation; promote cooperation and linkages with innovation and creativity centers, software parks in Vietnam, especially the National Innovation Center; support Vietnam in training human resources, especially in the training program of 100,000 high-quality engineers, including 50,000 high-quality engineers in the semiconductor industry…
The Prime Minister acknowledged Apple’s proposals to promote the access to clean energy for Apple’s manufacturers in Vietnam; said that the Government has approved the Electricity Plan VIII and issued a Plan to implement the Electricity Plan VIII towards strongly developing renewable energy, clean energy, agencies are urgently studying and developing a direct power purchase mechanism, developing rooftop solar power for “self-production, self-consumption”…”
Regarding cultural cooperation, the Prime Minister said that Vietnam wants to internationalize the identity and cultural quintessence of Vietnam and nationalize the values and cultural quintessence of the world, and suggested that Apple actively support in this field.
For his part, Mr. Tim Cook updated on Apple’s operations in Vietnam; proposed a number of cooperation contents with Vietnam in the fields of clean energy, digital transformation, and human resource training.
 Mr. Tim Cook proposed a number of cooperation contents with Vietnam in the fields of clean energy, digital transformation, and human resource training – Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac
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According to Apple’s CEO, he is having a wonderful visit and working trip in Vietnam, receiving the warm welcome of the Vietnamese leaders and people, and witnessing the strong development of Vietnam’s innovation and creativity community, full of vitality and energy, believing that this will be a “source of development” for Vietnam.
The Apple CEO highly appreciated the Prime Minister’s sharing about Vietnam’s major orientations and development goals, especially the constant attention to inclusive and sustainable development, protecting the Earth, and developing human resources, ensuring a peaceful and stable environment for development.
Affirming that Apple values the participation of Vietnamese application developers in Apple’s products for the world, he was delighted to announce that Apple’s operations have created more than 200,000 jobs in Vietnam. The company has also spent about 400 trillion VND for about 150 suppliers in Vietnam since 2019.
“I am very satisfied and could not be more delighted with the cooperation achievements we have achieved, which is an example of a win-win relationship; and I am very hopeful about what we can do together to achieve even greater achievements in the future,” said Mr. Tim Cook.
Apple appreciates the support and assistance of the Prime Minister and the ministries and agencies; and is ready to work with the Vietnamese Working Group to promote high-quality cooperation and investment activities in the coming time.
The CEO said that Apple is committed to buying more components and accessories manufactured by partners in Vietnam, while supporting Vietnam in innovation; increasing spending for suppliers in Vietnam; expanding vocational training programs for people with disabilities to promote integration, giving them greater opportunities in the supply chain.
Expressing his impression of the rich and unique culture which, according to him is “a very important part of the country of Vietnam”, Mr. Tim Cook said that he is looking forward to further promoting the introduction of Vietnamese culture, including music and cinema, to the world, with the contribution of Apple Music, helping people around the world to know more about the country, people, spirit, and culture of Vietnam.
Apple does not have a direct manufacturing plant in Vietnam, but through more than 70 factories of original equipment manufacturers with more than 250,000 workers, specializing in manufacturing electronic components (such as electric boards, cameras, screens…) and assembling finished products for Apple.
Apple Vietnam Co., Ltd. is the official importer of Apple products in Vietnam with more than 40 distribution partners in Vietnam and over 5,000 Apple authorized stores. In 2023, Apple opened the Apple Online Store, and the Apple Pay service in cooperation with
