VINACHEM

Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Le Cong Phung joined diplomats from six ASEAN embassies in the US for the 34 th Annual World Trade Week in Wichita city of US Kansas State from May 19-21.

The World Trade Council of Wichita and the Wichita State University jointly organised the week with the aim of increasing mutual understanding between Wichita and the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) member countries.

Secretary of the Kansas Department of Commerce Bill Thorton and Wichita City Mayor Carl Brewer affirmed their wish to further promote the relationship between Wichita, which is considered the capital of the US aviation industry, and ASEAN members.

A number of US businesses, especially aviation and agriculture firms, said they plans to increase their presence in Southeast Asia, a region with great potential for growth.

The Frank Barton School of Business of the Wichita State University showed interested in establishing cooperative ties and exchanging students with Vietnam’s universities.

Ambassador Phung emphasised potential in bilateral trade and investment relations has not been fully tapped, saying he hoped to further enhance investment and trade activities between Vietnam and the US in general and Wichita in particular.

He went on to confirm that the Vietnamese government has been workig hard to improve the country’s trade and investment environment to make it easy for US businesses to explore and conduct business activities in Vietnam.

The diplomat took the occasion to invite the Wichita Mayor and local businesses to visit Vietnam as soon as possible.

According to the US-ASEAN Business Council, ASEAN is the fifth biggest trade partner and the fourth largest export market of the US with two-way trade reaching almost 180 billion USD in 2008.

US exports to ASEAN fetched more than 66 billion USD in 2008, equalling to its exports to China and the region also attracted the largest investment from US compared to other regions in Asia with around 150 billion USD./.

(Source: en.vietnamplus.vn)