US firms eye investments in Vietnam

Over 50 American companies will be visiting Vietnam from March 21-23 to explore investment and business opportunities, as part of an annual programme hosted by the US-ASEAN Business Council. This is the largest-ever mission of its kind in the country, according to Vu Tu Thanh, the council's representative in Vietnam. The participating companies include Netflix, which plans to open an office in Vietnam, as well as Apple, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo, which already have business or production facilities in the country. Some companies are interested in Vietnam as a manufacturing hub and service provider, given the country's economic growth of over 8% last year. The mission will also feature semiconductor companies, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, medical device maker Abbott, financial firms Visa and Citibank, and internet and cloud companies Meta and Amazon Web Services, among others.