Vietnam, US to see greater cooperation in technology: expert

As Vietnam and the U.S. continue to expand cooperation in technology, the former needs to prepare sufficient foundations to acquire new technologies from American partners, said Prof. Dr. Nguyen Mai, chairman of Vietnam's Association of Foreign Invested Enterprises (VAFIE).

What is the key to making Vietnam and the U.S. important and strategic partners?

The most important thing for international economic integration is harmonized interests. Since Vietnam’s international integration, we have always put national interests first and made friends with all countries in the world on the basis of equality, mutually beneficial cooperation, and respect for independence and territorial sovereignty.

Currently, Vietnam has trade ties with more than 160 countries, and foreign relations with over 182 countries. Behind national interests comes multilateralism (not leaning towards one side but promoting cooperation for mutual benefit), and diversification (not only economic connection but also cooperation in diplomacy, national defense and security, technology, and human resources).

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam-U.S. Comprehensive Partnership. Before President Joe Biden’s trip to Vietnam on September 10-11, U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Vietnam in April and commented that since the normalization of relations between the two countries in 1995, Vietnam and the U.S. have built a dynamic relationship, reaping many achievements and growing day by day. I think this is the most accurate assessment.

This is shown through several figures. Firstly, the import-export turnover between the two countries skyrocketed from $450 million in 1995 to $7.8 billion in 2005, $45.1 billion in 2015, and $123 billion in 2022 (240 times higher than in 1995). In the history of Vietnam’s trade relations with other countries, we have never seen such spectacular growth.

The second is investment relations. In 2022, the U.S. ranked 11th out of 141 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. However, many opinions said that this was only the value of US direct investment in Vietnam, and the figure could be much more than the officially recorded $11 billion, given capital flows from American companies' subsidiaries in third countries. However, compared to U.S. investment in ASEAN countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, and Thailand, the figure in Vietnam is still modest and not commensurate with potential.

Thirdly, before switching to a socialist-oriented market economy, we relied heavily on socialist countries to train high-quality human resources. Tens of thousands of people were trained in 12 socialist countries, and later became business administrators, managers, and senior officials in all fields. They were also the ones who moved Vietnam from a centralized, subsidized and bureaucratic economy to a market economy. However, many of them have retired.

Currently, we depend mainly on training in developed countries, with many families sending their children abroad to study using their own resources (about 17,500 Vietnamese students are studying at major universities in the U.S. using family funds). This shows that Vietnamese families have enough economic potential to send their children to study abroad. And many, after learning overseas, have returned home to become high-ranking officials, and members and chairpersons of boards of directors of businesses, especially private ones.

Since 2015, start-ups have become a trend in Vietnam. People who trained in developed countries have made important contributions to making Vietnam among the countries with the highest growth rates in high technology and e-commerce in Southeast Asia and Asia. Recently, when talking about the digital economy, the Ministry of Information and Communications emphasized that thanks to high-quality human resources, we have had 4G, 5G, and soon 6G. We are not inferior to anyone in information technology and the digital economy in the Asian region.

Vietnam is considered to have the second largest rare earth reserves after China. This brings expectations about the production of Vietnamese chip products using technology from developed countries, including the U.S. What do you think about this?

Countries around the world are competing with each other in semiconductors (to make semiconductors, rare earth is indispensable). Each year China can supply 2,200 tons of rare earth to the market, accounting for about 80% of global production. It can be said that China has a monopoly on rare earth. Therefore, when mentioning relations with China, the U.S. is very cautious to avoid damaging the rare earth supply to the world.

Fortunately, when we opened our doors, we discovered oil - an export that generates 20% of annual budget revenue. Now we have rare earth - an extremely valuable natural resource, even much more valuable than oil. In 2022, Vietnam exported 4,500 tons of rare earth elements, earning $200 million. If we create 220,000 tons of rare earth, we can earn tens of billions of U.S. dollars. It's not just money but also status in the world. Today's world operates simply: "If you have something to exchange with me, you have status; if you depend entirely on me, you will never be a competitor."

Recently, a trilateral cooperation agreement between the U.S., Japan and South Korea was signed, marking a huge change in the relationship between South Korea and Japan while creating strong competition with their partners. Meanwhile, Japan and South Korea are close friends and leading investors in Vietnam. Many people question whether we are exporting rare earth. This is an underestimation of the leaders' vision. We will rely on high and modern technology to promote industrialization and modernization. The U.S. will also see benefits from cooperation with Vietnam in rare earth resources.

What do you think about the potential for developing Vietnam-U.S. investment relations?

Not only looking at Vietnam’s rare earth potential, the U.S. and Vietnam will cooperate more in technology, because the North American country still leads the world in high, future, and source technologies.

More than a year ago, a representative of top American tech giant Intel in Vietnam said that the group has three source technology factories, including one in the U.S., and now wants to make Vietnam one of its locations for source technology production.

In addition, Vietnam also needs to accelerate the development of clean and renewable energy, which is also a leading U.S. technology. Cooperation on clean energy is very important to achieve the net zero goal by 2050 as committed by the government of Vietnam.

In the coming time, Vietnam must have human resources, resources, and foundations to acquire modern technologies from American partners. More research and development (R&D) activities are also needed to master future technology, clean energy, and semiconductor production.

In general, when evaluating Vietnam-U.S. relations, it is clear that Vietnam needs to take advantage of opportunities to upgrade the bilateral relationship, and maybe during this visit of President Joe Biden it will become a comprehensive strategic partnership.

* Prof. Nguyen Mai is former Vice Chairman of State Committee for Cooperation and Investment, now Ministry of Planning and Investment.