HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told a business summit on Wednesday that he hoped the United States would recognise Vietnam as a market economy, noting that more than 70 other countries already did.
Chinh also urged the United States to lift export restrictions on technology which currently limit Vietnam’s access to chemical and biological weapons and to technology that is considered critical to U.S. security.
Vietnam is already permitted to import conventional weapons from the United States, as well as some nuclear and missile technology.
The prime minister said Vietnam wanted to develop satellite communications and was in talks with U.S. aerospace giant SpaceX.
Chinh also said that foreign investment flows into Vietnam this year were expected to total around $25 billion.
(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Editing by John Mair)
