Industry and Trade Minister on working trip to US

(VNA) Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang chaired over a conference on investment opportunities in Vietnam on September 15 in Washington.

At the conference, Minister Hoang highlighted Vietnam's policies and priorities to attract foreign investment in energy and finance areas. He also witnessed the signing of minutes of understanding on cooperation between PetroVietnam and McKinsey&Company.

The same day, the Vietnamese minister had a working session with Fred P. Hochberg, Chairman and President of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (US Exim Bank). They discussed ways to enhance cooperation between Vietnam 's Ministry of Industry and Trade and US Exim Bank for bilateral cooperation in industry and trade, thus increasing economic and commercial exchanges between the two countries.

Minister Hoang also toured Honeywell and Tangible companies which operate in aviation and space technology, automation solutions, transport, special materials, and energy and security.

Earlier, on Sept. 13, the minister attended the Joint Transportation and Energy Ministerial Conference held by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in San Francisco.

Addressing the public-private roundtable on developing energy-efficient transport systems for livable low-carbon communities, Minister Hoang said to establish energy efficient, low-carbon transportation systems, Vietnam needs to overcome many challenges such as lacking experiences, proper technologies, expertise and financing. He expressed the hope to cooperate with other APEC member economies in terms of experiences and information exchange, assistance in technology transfer, human resource development, and technical and financial support.

Also at the joint conference, on behalf of the Vietnamese delegation, Permanent Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication Ngo Thinh Duc addressed the public-private roundtable on greening the supply chain, energy-efficient freight transportation. He called upon international investors and organisations to invest in infratructure and to transfer technologies for developing supply chains during socio-economic development in Vietnam.

Following the first-ever joint Transportation and Energy Ministerial Conference hosted by US Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, energy and transportation ministers from 21 Asia-Pacific economies promised to make transportation cleaner and more energy efficient./.