How to attract Japanese investors to industry?

The country needs to restructure its industrial sector to make it more competitive and highly efficient, Japanese ambassador Yasuaki Tanizaki told a workshop in Hanoi on March 14.

A robust industrial sector is a must to develop support industries, he said, suggesting priority industries should be taken into account in the process.

Japan is helping Vietnam perfect its legal system and infrastructure to support cargo transportation which is expected to boom in the coming years.   

Assembling cars in a Japanese-invested company in Vietnam (Photo:dddn)

Japan is also increasing its investment in the Hanoi University of Industry, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, and other vocational training schools to improve the quality of human resources for industrial and export processing zones.

The aid aims to boost industrial production, and support Japanese small- and medium-sized businesses operating in Vietnam.

According to Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, Vietnam and Japan are entering the fourth phase of their Joint Initiative to Improve the Business Environment, with a focus on developing the energy and support industries.

The initiative helps Vietnam with expertise and solutions to improve its business-investment environment, and ease difficulties in economic infrastructure development, including the power and support industries, said Anh.

The national industrialisation plan is one of the key cooperation projects between Vietnam and Japan that has received a lot of attention from the Vietnamese government.

Vietnam hopes to receive Japanese consultants and experts to draw up a development plan for a number of key industries, aiming to realise its industrialisation strategy by 2020 and its vision for 2030.

At the workshop, ambassador Tanizaki reaffirmed the Japanese government’s commitment to maintain official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, including assistance for industrial development.

Delegates also examined the impact of Japanese investment on Vietnam’s industrial development, as well as challenges and solutions to industrial production in the country.

The same day, the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Japan’s Mainichi newspaper held a joint workshop on the Vietnamese market through the eyes of Japanese investors.

It was reported that two-way trade reached US$25 billion last year, making Japan the third largest trade partner of Vietnam. Japan is currently the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with 1,800 projects valued at US$29 billion in operation.

However, Japan’s reliance on Vietnamese exports remains modest, with the latter contributing just 11.7 percent to total Japanese import.

To raise the bilateral trade figure to US$29 billion by the end of this year, Nguyen Trung Dung, a trade counsellor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan suggested that their respective business communities take advantage of the Vietnam-Japan cooperation agreements and increase trade promotions.

Yakabe Yoshinoro, Deputy General Consul to HCM City, said that Japan considers Vietnam to be one of its key trade partners and is willing to share its development expertise with the Southeast Asian nation.

He expressed his hope that the growing strategic partnership between Japan and Vietnam will open up more opportunities for cooperation between their business communities.  

Representatives from leading Japanese corporations such as Tokyo Metro, Japan Tobacco, and House Food also attended the workshop.