By Andrea Shalal
(Reuters) - The United States&nbsp;sees&nbsp;Vietnam&nbsp;as a&nbsp;key&nbsp;partner&nbsp;in expanding green energy sources and building more resilient&nbsp;supply&nbsp;chains, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet&nbsp;Yellen&nbsp;said in a speech to be delivered in the country's capital of Hanoi on Friday.
Yellen, continuing her travels in Asia, told the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council that trade between the two countries had been growing at nearly 25% a year for the past two decades, and reached a record high last year.
"There is no sign that this momentum is slowing,"&nbsp;Yellen&nbsp;said in a text of her prepared remarks released late on Thursday in Washington, noting that investment in&nbsp;Vietnam's semiconductor sector was also accelerating.
Yellen's visit is part of a push by the United States to upgrade its formal ties with&nbsp;Vietnam&nbsp;as it works to reduce dependence on Chinese&nbsp;supply&nbsp;chains&nbsp;by expanding manufacturing at home and boosting trade with trusted&nbsp;partners. But its efforts have met some resistance in Hanoi, over what experts see as concerns that China could view the move as hostile.
The United States and&nbsp;Vietnam&nbsp;normalized relations in 1995, two decades after the end of the&nbsp;Vietnam&nbsp;War, and signed a bilateral trade agreement five years later.
Yellen&nbsp;noted that&nbsp;Vietnam&nbsp;had become a critical node in the global semiconductor&nbsp;supply&nbsp;chain, and cited big investments made by U.S. companies in&nbsp;Vietnam, including Arizona-based Amkor and Intel, which has its largest assembly and testing facility in the world in Saigon.
Yellen's speech did not mention China, which she visited earlier this month. She underscored that Washington's "friendshoring" drive was not meant for "an exclusive club of countries. It is open and inclusive of advanced economies, emerging markets and developing countries alike."
She said Washington was looking to strengthen ties with emerging markets and developing countries, including through the Group of Seven's pledge to mobilize $600 billion in infrastructure investments, which experts see as a deliberate counterweight to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
The United States is also working to help countries address the worsening climate crisis,&nbsp;Yellen&nbsp;said, citing U.S. support for&nbsp;Vietnam's Just Energy Transition&nbsp;Partnership that is working to mobilize $15 billion in public and private funds to help&nbsp;Vietnam&nbsp;transition to a net-zero emissions economy by 2050
"Now, it is vital to intensify our cooperation to build momentum for these efforts in&nbsp;Vietnam, evaluate project opportunities with the multilateral development banks, and deliver a Resource Mobilization Plan that provides a roadmap for implementation," she said.
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(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Jamie Freed)

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US Treasury's Yellen sees Vietnam as key partner in 'friendshoring' supply chains