Party chief urges KKR investment firm to contribute to Vietnam-US ties

Welcoming Petraeus on a working visit to Vietnam, the Party leader praised KKR’s investment achievements and expressed his hope that Petraeus’s visit will open new opportunities for KKR’s investments in Vietnam.

Lam affirmed that the US is a leading economic and investment partner of Vietnam, acknowledging the rapid and comprehensive development of Vietnam-US relations over the past 30 years since the normalisation of bilateral ties. Economic, trade, and investment cooperation remains at the core of the bilateral partnership.

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee To Lam (right) on December 10 receives General David Petraeus, a Partner at the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) global investment firm and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute. (Photo: VNA)

The Party General Secretary expressed his confidence that, with vast opportunities and potential for trade and investment between the two nations, the Vietnam-US relations will continue to thrive, benefiting both countries' people and contributing to global economic growth.

Lam shared Vietnam’s vision and determination to achieve its development goals of becoming a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle-income by 2030, and a high-income developed nation by 2045. He emphasised that the Vietnamese Party and Government will continue to create favourable conditions for both domestic and foreign investors through institutional reforms. Vietnam views the success of businesses as its own successes and will actively participate in and uphold commitments under bilateral and multilateral trade and investment agreements.

The Party leader encouraged foreign investors, including US investors, to further increase their investments in Vietnam, particularly in priority areas such as digital transformation, green transition, renewable and clean energy, and climate change adaptation. He also called on US businesses, including KKR, to play an active role in promoting the bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fields of economy, science, and technology.

For his part, Petraeus expressed his delight at and highly evaluated the development of the Vietnam-US relations over the past three decades. He shared KKR’s optimism about investment prospects in Vietnam, emphasising that Vietnam and Southeast Asia remain key drivers of global economic growth.

Petraeus highlighted Vietnam’s strengths, including its adherence to the rule of law, strong governance, security, and high-quality education and training systems, which are attractive to investors. He noted that regional trends also present opportunities to boost investment and trade with Vietnam.

The priority areas identified by Vietnam, such as telecommunications, green energy development, data centres, and climate change adaptation, are in line with KKR’s investment focus, he said.

Petraeus confirmed that KKR is actively seeking opportunities to expand its cooperation and investment in Vietnam. He was also committed to continuing support for the development of the Vietnam-US relations in the future.