Opportunities for Kyoto Businesses

At the meeting, Mr Kentaro Inada, a lawyer and Head of the Japanese delegation, said that Kyoto businesses wish to expand business activities in the Vietnamese market, and that this visit to Vietnam is an opportunity for him to better understand the Vietnamese market and businesses.

 

For his part, Dr Doan Duy Khuong welcomed the Kyoto delegation visiting Vietnam and referred to five main reasons for investment in Vietnam.

 

One, though there remains high inflation and instability from the global economic crisis, the Vietnam economy continues at a high growth rate compared to the region and the world. Furthermore, Vietnam’s largely young population of over 87 million people will ensure stable human resources for long-term cooperation.

 

Two, there are two axis in Asia: North-South and East-West. They are ASEAN+6 (10 ASEAN members; three North-East countries – China, Japan and South Korea; and India, Australia and New Zealand) and East-West - the Trans-Pacific economic partnership (TPP) including the US, Japan and Vietnam. Therefore, Vietnam occupies an important position in communication lines - sea, air and land, both North-South and East-West, from ASEAN to North-East Asia and from mainland Asia to America through the Pacific.

 

Three, Vietnam has signed the ASEAN Charter and agreed to establish the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, when movement of goods and people will be of the same status throughout the region. Thereby, tariffs will be almost zero, and goods imported to Vietnam will reach all parts of ASEAN. Cooperation with Vietnam also means cooperation with all ASEAN members.

 

Four, Vietnam is the only ASEAN member sharing cultural similarities with China, Korea and Japan. It is a “Bird Culture”. There are three “cultures” with regard to eating style. While Europeans use knife and fork (Tiger Culture), Indians use fingers (Monkey Culture), the third is “Bird Culture” using chopsticks to pick up food. In addition, Vietnam and Japan also share similarities in culture and business, going from friendship (confidence) to partnership, while in Europe/America, it must be first efficiency and reflection, and then continued cooperation.

 

And five, a fine tradition of cooperation exists between the two countries. Japan was among the first countries recognizing Vietnam (after reunification), cooperating and granting ODA to Vietnam.

 

 For those five reasons, Dr Khuong reaffirmed that Vietnam considers Japan as one of its most important strategic partners in trade and investment. Furthermore, VCCI, the official representative of the Vietnamese business community, has maintained its only foreign representative office in Japan.

 

Dr Khuong disclosed that the Vietnam government has permitted the establishment of the Vietnam-Japan Business Forum on the basis of cooperation between the Japanese Business Association in Vietnam and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to promote trade and investment between businesses of the two countries. In the framework of the Forum, the Vietnam government has assisted in exchanging business delegations especially in the forthcoming event in Quang Ninh province, with the participation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. VCCI will invite Japanese businesses to participate and promote trade and investment in Quang Ninh. Also participating will be representatives of related ministries, agencies and the General Department of Customs, so questions on macro statistics of Vietnam as well as concerns of Japanese businesses on the investment environment will be submitted to higher levels for response.

 

Dr Khuong also said that VCCI, in close cooperation with Vietnamese local authorities, can assist foreign companies, especially Kyoto businesses, in developing cooperation and partnership with Vietnamese provinces.       

Speaking on behalf of the Kyoto Chamber, Mr Kentaro Inada said that though most Kyoto businesses are small or medium-sized enterprises, they are very strong in developing technology and retain 50 percent of modern technology of the world.

 

For her part, Ms Setsuko Nakashige, Executive Director of the Association for the Promotion of International Trade, Japan, Kyoto Office, said Kyoto businesses wish to cooperate with Vietnamese garment sector businesses, especially in silk embroidery, as Vietnam has highly sophisticated technology. With high technology cooperation from Kyoto, the products will be more sophisticated and higher standard.

 

Ms Setsuko Nakashige also stressed that Kyoto, and Japan in general, regard Vietnam as a main market since the Japanese population is aging with a low birth rate, while products multiply, so all Japanese businesses want to sell their products to Vietnamese consumers. In particular, Japanese foodstuffs are highly rated for food safety around the world, and Vietnamese prefer Japanese foods. We want to introduce more Japanese foodstuffs to the Vietnamese market.