Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Hong Nam speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)In his remarks, Vietnamese Ambassador Vu Hong Nam toldparticipants about Vietnam’s efforts to further integrate into the globaleconomy, its socio-economic achievements in the recent past, and, most notably,its curbing of the spread of COVID-19.
He underlined that Vietnam’s economy is again postingpositive growth now that the pandemic has been largely brought under control, making it anattractive destination for FDI.
FDI inflows have been on the rise since its secondwave of COVID-19 was repelled. Figures from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showthat, as of November 20, FDI had totalled 26.4 billion USD, of which over 2.1billion USD was from Japan.
Of particular note, half of the 30 firms receivingassistance from the Japanese Government to move facilities to Southeast Asiahave selected Vietnam as the destination, demonstrating their trust in theprospects for the local economy.
The ambassador underlined that Vietnam-Japan tradeis supplementary and fair. Despite the pandemic, two-way trade declined only slightlyin the first 11 months of the year, to 35.9 billion USD. Vietnam shipped itemsworth 17.3 billion USD, down 6.5 percent, while Japan posted export revenue of18.6 billion to Vietnam, up 4.8 percent.
Nam took the occasion to call upon Japanesebusinesses to invest in Vietnam, especially in fields the country has prioritised,such as electronics, agro-fishery processing, environmental technology andenergy saving, agricultural machinery, shipbuilding, and automobiles and spare parts.
The Vietnamese Government is paying attention tocreating a suitable legal framework for the country’s market mechanism andconditions that are on par with commitments in integration and internationalpractice. It is exerting every effort to build the foundational factors for atransparent and favourable investment and business climate, and stabilising itsmacro-economy in a bid to lure more investment from abroad and from Japan inparticular, he added.
FEC President Matsuzawa Ken voiced his hope that theforum will help Japanese companies understand more about Vietnam’s business andinvestment climate, thereby strengthening mutual understanding and cooperationin economy, trade, and investment./.
