Japanese investors stay put in Vietnam

CA - Vietnam continues to be an attractive destination for Japanese investors, said the third Vietnam-Japan economic seminar held in Tokyo Tuesday.

According to Vietnam News Agency (VNA) the seminar entitled “Japan’s overseas investment tendencies – Vietnam’s case” was attended by more than 70 Japanese economic experts and business people as well as visiting Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dang Huy Dong.

Addressing the seminar, senior economic expert Saori Sugeno from the Daiwa Institute of Research (DIR) of Japan said that Vietnam remains the second attractive destination for Asian investors, following China, and is becoming an important production workshop for the global supply system.

Investors have chosen Vietnam to reduce the risks of investing too much in China , said Sugeno, adding that they are also encouraged by increasing consumer spending and the recent launch of a series of large-scaled infrastructure development projects.

He, however, suggested the Vietnamese Government soon build a legal corridor for the public-private partnership model to attract more private capital for the State’s infrastructure projects.

The Vietnamese Government should further improve the investment environment as well as develop the capital market to attract indirect foreign investment and infrastructure investment funds, he added.

Deputy Director of the Asian and Ocean Division under the Japan External Trade Organisation’s (JETRO) Overseas Research Development Bureau Yuichi Bamba laid stress on socio-political stability, a large market with a high growth potential and an abundant and cheap workforce as Vietnam’s major advantages.

He quoted the results of JETRO’s recent studies which showed labour cost in Vietnam is the lowest compared with other Asean nations and the majority of Japanese businesses operating in Vietnam in 2010 are optimistic about business prospect in Vietnam after the global economic crisis.