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Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul on Monday following his business trip to Europe on Wednesday. (Yonhap) |
Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Monday flew to Hanoi to hold a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister to discuss possible additional investment plans in the country.
The South Korean tech giant’s heir apparent is visiting the country for the first time since October in 2018.
Samsung’s smartphone business chief Roh Tae-moon and display unit head Lee Dong-hoon joined Lee on the trip.
Lee will meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday. Whether the two would discuss new investment plans remains to be seen.
Last year, the Vietnamese leader asked Samsung’s Lee to build a semiconductor plant in the Southeast Asian country during his visit to Seoul.
However, considering the members of the latest trip, Samsung might be considering increasing investments related to the mobile device business there rather than the chip business.
Asked on the possibility of making new investments in the country, Roh said, “We will go and see there.”
The Samsung executives are also expected to inspect a research and development center under construction in Hanoi as well as the smartphone manufacturing site there.
Vietnam is one of countries that have adopted a fast-track entry program for Korean businesspeople, exempting them from its mandatory self-isolation against COVID-19.
Samsung is producing over 90 percent of smartphones in Vietnam.
By Song Su-hyun (
song@heraldcorp.com)
