Vietnam gains from Samsung’s largest mobile phone factory

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday applauded Samsung’s decision to expand operations in Vietnam, adding that it would contribute to the strategic partnership between Vietnam and South Korea.

He was attending the Samsung Group’s groundbreaking event for the construction of a US$3.2 billion high-tech complex in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.

The complex, which will house Samsung’s largest mobile phone factory, is expected to provide jobs for thousands of local people.

It will also contribute tens of billions of US dollars to the country’s annual export turnover, while boosting the development of the electronics support industry in the northern region of Vietnam.

Dung spoke highly of South Korean businesses’ operation in Vietnam and pledged to create favourable conditions for them and other foreign businesses to do business in the country on the basis of friendship, cooperation and equality.

The same day, the prime minister held a working session with provincial leaders where he urged Thai Nguyen Province to use its potential and advantages in agro-forestry and industry.

Dung affirmed the government’s policy of creating the best possible conditions for Thai Nguyen to develop into an economic, political, cultural and educational centre in the northern midland and mountainous region.

On the province’s famous tea trees, the leader said Thai Nguyen should develop industrial-scale processing for the product, which was key for the locality’s poverty reduction.

He also urged Thai Nguyen to improve the investment environment, reforming administrative procedures and attracting high-tech projects.

Last year, the province recorded an economic growth of 7.2 per cent, generated jobs for 22,600 people and reduced the percentage of poor households by 2.93 per cent.

Particularly, tea trees have been a lifeline for poor families in the province with the crop growing on a total area of 18,500 hectares.