Hanoi (VNA) - Prime♒ Minister Pham Minh Chinh ꦡon May 17 (US time) visited techgiants Intel, Apple and Google in Silicon Valley as part of his US visit.

At the meeting with the Vietnamese Government leader, Intel’s Executive VicePresident Keyvan Esfarjani underlined the significant role of Vietnam in thecompany's supply chains and highlighted Intel Vietnam’s highest quality awardin 2021 as an indication of the factory’s excellent human resources. The Vice President also highly regarded the country’s favourableinfrastructure and its skilled workforce, and described Vietnam as a potentialdestination for tech firms to expand their operations, especially when firmslike Intel want to diversify their supply chains. PM Chinh congratulated Intel on its achievements and thanked the corporationfor its investments in Vietnam. He affirmed that the country has been workingon Intel’s proposals and hoped that the corporation would invest further inother provinces beyond HCM City. At the meeting with Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, the PM underlined the cooperationin trade, investment and finance as the driving force for a robust US-VietnamComprehensive Partnership. He said the Vietnamese Government is committed to creating a fair, transparentand market-based business environment to help US firms and investors gainground in Vietnam. He said Vietnamese customers of all ages love Apple products and theirinterest would continue to rise thanks to the growth of the global digitaleconomy. He also expressed delight at the fact that Vietnam has become more involved inthe global supply chains. Although Apple doesn't directly have their plant in Vietnam,the country has 31 companies with 160,000 workers that are producing andassembling electronic parts and equipment for Apple products. He requested the corporation continue to step up its business activitiesin Vietnam and introduce its products to a wide range of customers. Hehoped the country would soon become Apple's model market in Asia. Tim Cook thanked Vietnam for creating a favourable business environmentfor Apple's operations. He said the company wants to extend its supplychains in the country and involve capable domestic firms in Apple's supplychains. The CEO also affirmed that he would consider increasing the number of domesticsuppliers and raising the rate of domestic products used in production lines. He hoped that the Vietnamese Government would introduce even more favourablepolicies to encourage the investments of US high-tech firms. During PM Chinh's visit to Google headquarters, Rick Osterloh, Senior VicePresident of Devices and Services at Google, said the corporation wants tomake its higher contribution to Vietnam’s economic growth and a sustainabledigital eco-system. The Vietnamese leader appreciated the cooperation between Google and Vietnam andwelcomed Google's new plans in the country amid digital transformation.  He requested Google continue to support Vietnam in high-techfields and step up programmes that help Vietnamese firms in digitaltransformation, thereby contributing to the development of digital government,digital economy, and digital society./.