Vietnam mulls expanding cooperation with Samsung

The deputy premier has assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to collaborate with relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to select the key projects that need foreign investment in the national master plan from now to 2015 and introduce them to Samsung for consideration.

It is hoped that the South Korean group will join in these recommended projects.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Industry and Trade should work with Samsung on the invitation for the latter to join in the Vung Ang 3 thermal-power plant project. The transport ministry is assigned to speak with Samsung about the possibility of cooperation in the Long Thanh International Airport project.

Samsung has recently offered to cooperate with the Ministry of Information and Communications in ICT and online government aspects, and the ministry has been requested to consider the suggestion, according to the Government Office.

Finally, the municipal government of Hanoi has been asked to introduce suitable locations for Samsung to implement their research and development as well as relevant supporting projects in the capital city.

Samsung Electronics Vietnam is operating a mobile phone plant in northern Bac Ninh Province and has broken ground on the second facility in Thai Nguyen, another northern province about 70km from Hanoi.

Last year mobile phones surpassed textiles to become the export commodity to earn the most for Vietnam, for which Electronics Vietnam was largely responsible.

In 2013, Vietnam exported as many as US$21.5 billion worth of mobile phones and spare parts, while export values of textiles, traditionally the export staple of the country, topped $17.8 billion,  according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.