Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and delegates at the conference (Source: VNA)
This is the biggest ever conference on investment promotion in Vietnam held by the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in conjunction with the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) and the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank).
Addressing the event, PM Phuc quoted a recent JETRO report on the Vietnamese investment environment as saying that up to 90 percent of Japanese firms believe that business expansion in Vietnam will help them gain more profits.
At the end of 2016, over 3,200 Japanese-invested projects were valid in Vietnam with a total registered capital of USD42 billion, making up 15 percent of total foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country, he added.
The leader called for Japanese investments in such realms as electronics, farming machines, agricultural product processing, shipbuilding, environment, energy saving and auto manufacturing.
Speaking to 1,600 delegates, including 200 from Vietnam, the PM said he was convinced that nothing can prevent a new era of the close and trust-worthy development cooperation between the two countries.
The PM also invited Japanese investors to engage in M&A activities in combination with the equitisation of State-owned enterprises in such areas as transport, infrastructure, food, foodstuff, agriculture, trade, tourism and construction.
Other sectors that Vietnam is wooing foreign investments like public-private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure and start-ups, he said.
He highlighted Vietnam’s political and social stability and macro-economy, legal institutions and improved transparency in conformity with international commitments and standards, thus creating optimal conditions for investors and businesses to operate in Vietnam for a long-term and partake in regional and global value chains.
The leader talked about opportunities generated by the Vietnam-Japan Free Trade Agreement, under which the average tax imposed on Vietnamese exports to Japan will drop to 2.8 percent in 2018 while that on Japanese products will decline to 7 percent.
“Vietnam pledges to create the best possible business climate, looking towards standards of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); reduce transaction costs; curb corruption; ease challenges regarding macro environment and policies; improve forecast capacity and practise transparency and accountability with the business community,” he stressed.
Affirming Japan as a trust-worthy strategic partner of Vietnam, the PM said he believes that the close bilateral ties will be a foundation for development and prosperity in each nation.
In his remarks, PM Shinzo Abe assured that he and his Vietnamese counterpart will continue their strong support for Japanese firms’ investment activities in Vietnam through high-quality infrastructure projects, investment improvement and personnel training.
Vietnam and Japan will step up their cooperation across fields to reinforce free trade, he said, affirming his back for Vietnam’s hosting of APEC 2017.
At the event, Japanese businesses expressed their concerns regarding such fields as finance, banking, support industry, high technologies and high-tech agriculture.
According to JETRO Vice President Yuri Sato, one third of the surveyed Japanese firms voiced its wish to expand business in Vietnam.
Later the same day, PM Phuc met with leaders of Mitsubishi Group and Mitsui & Co., Ltd.
Earlier, he attended a roundtable seminar with big Japanese investors jointly held by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, Vietinbank and BTMU.
The event saw the participation of leaders of major Japanese groups in high technologies, electronics, oil and gas, finance-banking, trade and retail like Canon, Panasonic, Nipro Corporation, Taisei Corp, Tokyo Gas and Idemitsu, among others.
The Japanese firms raised proposals regarding the increase of locally-made content in industrial production in Vietnam, the development of support industry, infrastructure development and the expansion of retail market in the country./.