Vietnam Urged to Develop Supporting Industries to Keep Japanese Investors

The Vietnam-based Japanese Businesspeople Association (JBA) has called on Vietnam to develop supporting industries in order to keep investors in the country in the long term.

 

The JBA made the call at its recent meeting with officials from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry that aimed to seek ways to prevent Japanese investors from following the electronics giant Sony which last month announced to end all its production in the country.

 

The Head of the JBA’s Supporting Industry Department, Nobuhiko Murakami, said Sony has foreseen that their Vietnam-made products cannot compete against imports, which will enjoy tariff exemption by 2010 in line with Vietnam’s commitments to the World Trade Organization, due to a lack of local supporting industries.

 

Murakami warned of a similar threat to many FDI enterprises, citing as an example the case of Toyota Vietnam of which he is Director General.

 

He said Vietnamese producers can only supply a few of automobile components for Toyota Vietnam, while their peers in Thailand or Indonesia have been able to provide up to 90 per cent of components at orders.

 

If Vietnamese producers fail to meet 60 per cent-70 per cent of Toyota Vietnam’s needs for components by the time the country opens its automobile market completely in 2018, it will be hard for Toyota to stay in Vietnam, Toyota Vietnam Director General said.

 

Koichi Takano, Deputy Country Representative of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), said “Japanese businesspeople are concerned about policies and strategies supporting their long-term growth”.

 

“Supporting industries are one of key issues for Japanese businesses in their long-term development”, the JETRO official said.

 

VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc assured the Japanese businessmen that his chamber will assist Vietnamese businesses to formulate a strategy to develop supporting industries that is based on strategic alliances between Vietnamese and Japanese businesses. (VNA)