A US business official has highlighted Vietnam for its important position in establishing economic and trade links with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Marc Mealy, Vice Chairman of the US-ASEAN Business Council, made the remarks at a seminar on Vietnam-bound investment in New York on March 5, with the participation of over 70 representatives from local companies, trade organisations and investment funds.

The chairman said the Obama administration’s US Pivot Strategy towards Asia and the possible signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will create more opportunities for US businesses to invest in Vietnam .

Addressing the event, Le Hoai Trung, Vietnam’s permanent representative to the United Nations, pinpointed his country’s competitive advantages - its large population, abundant workforce and geographic position - as its investment “magnet”.

A number of US firms and groups have established footholds in Vietnam’s southern Binh Duong province, which has the most favourable investment environment in the country, the diplomat added.

Walter Blocker, among the first US businessmen to pour capital into the Vietnam Trade Alliance branch in Ho Chi Minh City since diplomatic ties between the countries were normalised in 1995, shared his success stories. Vietnam has made great strides in its investment environment reform, he added.

Participants at the seminar focused attention to business-related procedures in the Southeast Asian country and Binh Duong province in particular, as well as to US-Vietnam ties.

The seminar was held by Binh Duong-based Becamex ID Corporation with the support of Citibank and New York-based Manhattan Commerce Chamber.-VNA