By Francesco Guarascio

HANOI (Reuters) – SpaceX, Netflix and Boeing are amongst the providers joining the “largest-ever” U.S. organization mission to Vietnam subsequent week to go over investment and sales possibilities in the booming Southeast Asian nation, the organiser mentioned.

Extra than 50 providers, like defence, pharmaceutical and tech firms, will participate in the mission organised by the US-ASEAN Enterprise Council, an business physique, according to a list noticed by Reuters.

The delegation is a sign of increasing interest in the worldwide manufacturing hub, which is benefiting from a shift away from China amid Sino-U.S. trade friction.

Vietnam, with a population of one hundred million persons, also has a swiftly-expanding customer market place as its middle class expands.

“This is the largest-ever mission in Vietnam,” mentioned Vu Tu Thanh, the US-ASEAN Enterprise Council’s representative in the nation, noting that the physique had been organising these events for 3 decades.

Streaming giant Netflix, which Reuters final month reported was preparing to open an workplace in Vietnam, is amongst the providers joining the trip. Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.

Aerospace companies Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Bell will hold meetings with state-owned Vietnamese defence procurement providers, Thanh told Reuters, adding that it was the 1st time in about a decade that safety firms had decided to join the annual mission to Vietnam.

In December, the exact same providers held talks with Vietnamese government officials about the feasible sale of helicopters and drones, as the nation seeks new suppliers and the Ukraine conflict strains the capabilities of Russia, for decades Vietnam’s principal military companion.

“Helicopters is 1 of the issues the providers hope to sell to the Vietnamese,” Thanh mentioned, even though he cautioned that defence bargains took time to be completed and no quick breakthrough was anticipated.

Boeing mentioned in a statement that its discussions with officials would concentrate on its expanding partnership with Vietnam and methods to strengthen the country’s aviation and defence capabilities.

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Lockheed Martin and Bell did not respond to requests for comment.

The majority of the providers joining the organization mission currently have a organization or manufacturing presence in Vietnam, like Apple, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, Thanh mentioned, with some preparing to expand it.

Some providers are also coming to get a greater sense of the political scenario soon after current turmoil in the Communist-Celebration led nation, like the resignation of the president in January, Thanh added.

Participants will have meetings with Vietnam’s leading political and regulatory leadership, like with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

Thanh mentioned some providers had been interested in Vietnam as a manufacturing hub and in offering solutions to increasingly wealthy customers at a time when financial development reached extra than eight% final year.

Amongst them is SpaceX, which is searching to sell its satellite web solutions to Vietnam and other nations in the area, Thanh mentioned. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

The mission will also incorporate semiconductors providers, pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Johnson &amp Johnson, health-related device maker Abbott, economic firms Visa and Citibank, web and cloud providers Meta and Amazon Internet Solutions, the list showed.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio Editing by Jamie Freed)