Vietnam plays an extremely important role in Nike's manufacturing market, Athanasakos told Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh during his visit to Vietnam last week.

According to the Nike official, the group exports about 158 million pairs of shoes every year (with the Nike and Converse brands), which are manufactured by 40 factories in Vietnam, and generates about 300,000 jobs.

Approximately 50 percent of Vietnam’s footwear exports are products of Nike, with the value of Nike shoes made in Vietnam for export to the US exceeding US$2 billion.

Athanasakos attributed labour cost as an important reason for the group to continue choosing Vietnam as a production base.

The executive also said his group strives to raise the rate of domestic raw materials to reduce product costs.

Athanasakos said Nike is also looking forward to Vietnam’s negotiations o­n the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) and the Vietnam-EU free trade agreement (FTA).

TPP and FTA are very important to Vietnam, he said, hoping that Vietnam could successfully negotiate the two deals. According to him, the EU market is not o­nly important for Vietnam, but also for Nike.