Lee Jae-yong Meets Vietnamese Prime Minister: "Focused Investment in Display for 3 Years"

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh Meets with Domestic Group Heads
Requests Samsung to Expand Investment and Supply Chain in Vietnam
Lee Jae-yong: "Vietnam's Development is Samsung's Development"
Met with Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Eui-sun the Previous Day
Exchanged Views on Vietnam Investment Plans
Also Met with Lotte's Shin Dong-bin and Hyosung's Cho Hyun-joon

Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister of Vietnam visiting South Korea, met consecutively with key heads of major Korean groups, including Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, to discuss economic cooperation plans encompassing future businesses and investments.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, currently visiting Korea, is shaking hands and taking a commemorative photo with Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, at Lotte Hotel Seoul on the 2nd. Photo by Vietnam Government Portal VGP Capture [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the business community and the Vietnamese government gazette VGP on the 2nd, Prime Minister Chinh met with Chairman Lee at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on the same day to exchange views on ways to expand cooperation in various fields. It is known that key executives, including Jeon Young-hyun, Vice Chairman and Head of the Device Solutions (DS) Division, were also present.

Chairman Lee highly praised the development of the cooperative relationship between Samsung and Vietnam, saying, "Vietnam's success is Samsung's success, and Vietnam's development is Samsung's development." He also expressed gratitude to the Vietnamese government for helping overcome difficulties during the COVID-19 period. He added, "As the largest foreign investor and the largest exporter in Vietnam, we will always walk together with Vietnam."

Samsung Electronics plans to invest in the display sector and others so that its Vietnam factory can become the world's largest display production base in three years.

Prime Minister Chinh highly evaluated the achievements Samsung has made in the process of investing in Vietnam and acknowledged its active contribution to Vietnam's economic and social development, including exports and the development of advanced technology application products. He further stated, "Vietnam is preparing an enforcement decree on the establishment, management, and use of an investor support fund to guarantee the stability and competitiveness of the investment environment," adding, "Through this, we plan to attract or encourage investments in advanced technologies, semiconductor chips, artificial intelligence (AI), and research and development (R&D) centers."

Prime Minister Chinh requested Samsung to expand investment and supply chains and to continuously operate Vietnam as a strategic production and R&D base for major global products. He also proposed increasing localization rates, expanding cooperation with Vietnamese companies, and strengthening the activities of the Hanoi R&D center.

Currently, Samsung's cumulative investment in Vietnam amounts to approximately $22.4 billion. It employs about 90,000 local workers. Last year, Samsung Vietnam's export value was about $55.7 billion. Samsung first entered Vietnam in 1989 by establishing a Samsung C&T trading office in Hanoi. Currently, it produces smartphones, network equipment, TVs, displays, and batteries in Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, and Thai Nguyen.

Chairman Lee has also been continuously interacting with political and business figures in Vietnam. In 2022, to mark the 30th anniversary of Korea-Vietnam diplomatic relations, Samsung invested a total of $220 million (approximately 283 billion KRW) to establish a large-scale R&D center in the capital, Hanoi. Both Chairman Lee and Prime Minister Chinh personally attended the opening ceremony at that time.

Prime Minister Chinh is scheduled to tour Samsung Electronics' Pyeongtaek plant on the 3rd. Jeon Young-hyun, the head of the DS division, and other DS division business leaders will guide Prime Minister Chinh and his delegation.

On the 2nd, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong are having a meeting at Lotte Hotel in Seoul. Photo by Vietnam Government Gazette VGP capture [Image source=Yonhap News]

Chairman Chung Euisun of Hyundai Motor Group. / Hwaseong - Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Earlier, on the previous day, Prime Minister Chinh held a separate meeting with Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, exchanging views on Vietnam investment plans. At the meeting, Prime Minister Chinh highly praised Hyundai Motor Group's investment and management activities in Vietnam and requested support for investment expansion and talent development, while Chairman Chung reportedly explained Hyundai's investment plans in Vietnam.

Hyundai Motor Group is currently competing for first or second place in the Vietnamese automobile market. In 2022, it completed the HTMV2 plant, a joint venture for Hyundai vehicle production in Vietnam, significantly increasing local production capacity, and is implementing social contribution programs supporting Vietnamese university students and addressing educational disparities among youth.

On the same day, Prime Minister Chinh also met with Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, to discuss ways to expand cooperation in smart city development and tourism. He also met with key executives of Hyosung, including Chairman Cho Hyun-joon and Vice Chairman Cho Hyun-sang of HS Hyosung, to discuss cooperation plans for future businesses such as renewable energy.

Kim Ki-moon, Chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, along with a delegation of small and medium-sized enterprise representatives, held a meeting with Prime Minister Chinh, requesting measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the materials, parts, and equipment (SoBuJang) industries between the two countries, resolve difficulties in issuing visas for Vietnamese resident workers, and prepare solutions for unstable power supply during the summer. A Korea-Vietnam Investment Cooperation Forum is also scheduled to be held in Vietnam this November. Regarding this, Prime Minister Chinh reportedly responded that he would actively cooperate in hosting the Korea-Vietnam Investment Cooperation Forum, according to the Korea Federation of SMEs.