US, Vietnam firms to sign agreements as To Lam travels to New York, documents show

HANOI, Sept 16 : A string of agreements is expected to be announced next week by U.S. and Vietnamese corporations involving energy, tech, aviation and financial firms as Vietnam's leader To Lam travels to New York, according to officials and two documents reviewed by Reuters.

Commercial agreements, many of which are expected to be non-binding, have been for months part of Vietnam's strategy to mollify Washington as the Trump administration is threatening new tariffs on the export-reliant Southeast Asian nation.

One internal planning note lists 29 agreements that could be announced on September 23 in New York at a business conference to be attended by To Lam. 

U.S. energy firms Murphy Oil and Chevron are expected to announce agreements with state-owned Petrovietnam, while ExxonMobil is slated to announce an accord with Vietnam Refinery and Petrochemical Corporation, the country's second-largest refinery.

In February the refinery signed a non-binding oil supply agreement with Chevron, but no subsequent purchase was announced. Murphy Oil is active in oil and gas explorations in Vietnam, while ExxonMobil operates the country's largest gas field which remains however untapped. 

The agreements are to be announced on To Lam's last day in New York before he travels to Canada for a state visit.

He is expected to speak at the U.N. General Assembly on September 22 and hold meetings with several U.S. corporations, three officials said. His schedule has not yet been officially announced.

His trip is also aimed at making progress on trade talks with the United States, and possibly to agree on a trade deal which has been negotiated for more than a year, two of the officials said.

However, a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump is not certain, the sources said. Trump's schedule was not yet confirmed, a White House official said on Tuesday.

Vietnam's foreign ministry nor any of the companies cited in this article immediately responded to requests for comment, some out of their business hours.

AVIATION, TECH

The document, which may be subject to changes and does not indicate the content of the planned agreements, also lists several deals involving Vietnam's largest private airline, Vietjet, including with aviation partners and SpaceX.

The company is expected to announce the leasing of as many as 22 planes from four aviation leasing companies, including 17 Boeing 737 jets and five Airbus A321neo, according to a separate document from Vietjet.

The planned contract with SpaceX is for the provision of satellite internet services from Starlink to 120 Vietjet aircraft, according to the Vietjet document.

The airline also plans to sign memoranda of understanding with U.S. jet engine maintenance firms, according to the documents.

The provisional list also includes an unspecified agreement between Meta and Vietnam's ministry of culture, and a separate agreement between U.S. chip giant Qualcomm with Vietnamese telecom firm VNPT. Qualcomm is already active in the rollout of Vietnam's 5G network, while Meta's Facebook is the most popular social media in the Communist-ruled nation.

Visa, Mastercard and Citibank are also expected to announce agreements with financial and hospitality partners in Vietnam, according to the document.