The Ho Chi Minh City Branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI-HCM) recently coordinated with the Osaka Small and Medium Enterprises Association (SEMER) to organise an exchange meeting called “Vietnam - Japan Business Opportunities". Many Japanese and Vietnamese businesses attended the event to seek business partners.
Japanese participants operate in various fields like manufacturing and trading of actuators; designing, manufacturing and trading of cups, mementos; manufacturing of pressure oil cylinders; ceramic products; household water filters; foods; designing, manufacturing and development of measurement tools; automatic control panels, PLC industrial software; poly-urethane coating material, etc.
Deputy Director of VCCI-HCM Nguyen Hong Ha said, with cultural similarities, Vietnam and Japan have close, good long-lasting friendship ties. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1973 and have to date signed a lot of bilateral agreements to promote cooperation. Especially in recent years, thanks to the efforts of the Governments and peoples of the both countries, cooperative friendship ties between the two countries have been boosted on many fronts. Japan is now the biggest ODA provider for Vietnam.
She added Japanese enterprises were among the first foreign investors to trade with Vietnam. Japanese merchants started doing business with Vietnam in Hoi An City in the 16th century and Japanese companies were also the first to come to Vietnam without much hesitance when its trade embargo was lifted. They introduced equipment, machinery needed for Vietnam’s national rebuilding and development, and helped Vietnam access international markets.
Ha added the two-way trade between Vietnam and Japan had increased annually in the last five years, reaching US$21.18 billion in 2011 (Vietnam earned US$10.78 billion and spentUS$10.48 billion). According to statistics from Vietnamese customs authorities, Vietnam sold US$5.3 billion worth of goods to Japan in the first five months of this year, increasing 45.55 percent from a year ago. Japan was thus the second largest export market of Vietnam after the United States. With respect to investment, with new and supplementary registered capital of US$1.07 billion or 87.5 percent of total foreign direct investment (FDI) capital, Japan had surged into the lead among 94 countries and territories investing in Vietnam in the first three months of this year, according to the Vietnam Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Especially, in the current wave of Japanese investment into Vietnam, we have learned that most of investors are small and medium companies. We think this is a good opportunity for companies in both countries because, like Japan, most Vietnamese enterprises are small and medium-sized.
Agreeing with Ms Ha, Yoshinobu Maenishi, Deputy Director of Osaka Small and Medium Enterprises Association, asserted that Vietnam and Japan have a long history of relations. Especially, in the time of Edo, trade was developed and thrived and a Japanese quarter was formed in Hoi An City. Fish sauce and paper kites were brought to Japan from Vietnam.
He said with confidence that "We can cooperate with each other and that is really significant to national interest. There exists a Japanese traditional business maxim: Sanpo Yoshi (literally, three-way satisfaction.) It refers to means that what benefits you, should ultimately also benefit your partners and the society at large. We want to develop business with Vietnam on the basis of the above ideas and look forward to having more cooperation with Vietnamese companies."
Ha Linh
Vietnamese
