Prime Minister of Vietnam meets with Tim Cook in bid to lure manufacturing business

Pham Minh Chinh (Vietnam’s Prime Minister) met Tim Cook at Apple Park. Chinh visited other Silicon Valley tech companies such as Intel and Google during his trip to the United States. This visit was made in the hopes of reaching out to US tech firms with the goal to bring more business to Vietnam.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister underlined cooperation in trade, investment, and finance as the driving force for a successful US-Vietnam partnership. Cook was informed by Chinh that the Vietnamese government works to establish a market environment in order to support US companies’ growth in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s interest in Apple and its products continues to increase alongside the growth of the digital economy. Chinh stated that all age groups in Vietnam use Apple products and this love will only increase with Apple’s growth.

Apple doesn’t have a plant in Vietnam. The country does, however, have 31 companies with 160,000 workers producing and assembling parts for Apple products. As Vietnam becomes more active in the global supply chain, Chinh expressed interest in Apple doing more business there. Tim Cook was also informed by him how Vietnam could be Apple’s most important market in Asia. It could expose its products to an even wider market within Vietnam, the tech giant.

Cook added that Apple is looking to extend its supply chains to Vietnam and involve more of the country’s firms. The CEO also plans to increase domestic suppliers as well as raise the production line’s use of domestic products.

The hope is the Vietnamese Government will introduce more favorable policies to encourage investments from US tech firms like Apple.