Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee met Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Hanoi on Friday to discuss ways to expand the Korean company’s investment in that country, company sources said.

Lee has also called in all his confidantes — Lee Jay-yong, his son and president of Samsung Electronics; Shin Jong-kyun, the company’s mobile chief; and Choi Gee-sung, head of Samsung Group’s corporate strategy office — for the three-day trip. The executive meeting will focus on Samsung’s mobile phone strategies in the region, industry watchers predicted.

Plans for further investment in Vietnam may be realized once Samsung completes the research and development center it is constructing in the nation’s capital of Hanoi.

Vietnam is one of Samsung’s core production centers, as it is responsiblefor annually manufacturing some 40 percent, or 150 million units, of Samsung’s handsets. The market is second to North America.

Samsung is reportedly set to commit a total of $1.5 billion in Vietnam by 2020, expanding from the existing investment of $670 million.

A total of nine Samsung affiliates have operations in 16 locales in Vietnam.

Another issue for Lee is how to keep the company’s momentum as the No.1 maker of smartphones, watchers said. Samsung has been seeking to maintain the edge it has in the global markets now that many of its rivals including Nokia and RIM are on the decline.

Apple is virtually Samsung’s only remaining competitor, but the U.S.-based company is engaged in a fierce legal battle against the Korean electronics maker over patent rights.

In the second quarter, units of Samsung’s Galaxy series sold almost double the number of iPhone handsets sold by Apple.

Industry pundits said it would be typical of Lee to look beyond the company, even outside the country, for a way out, especially as the domestic economy appears unlikely to rebound soon to offer any attractive opportunities for corporations.

Conglomerates also may be looking for a breather amid fierce political havoc coming their way, with politicians promising to “bash” them to level the playing field with smaller competitors.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)