"Promoting supplies of spare parts for Japanese manufacturers operating in Vietnam is our top priority," said Mr Hirotaka Yasuzumi, Chief Executive Officer of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City at the third forum on Vietnam’s supporting industry in HCM City. This forum is part of the Metalex Vietnam and Nepcon Vietnam Exhibition 2012 scheduled to take place in the city in early October.
Developing manufacturing and supporting industries to step up domestic production, create highly valued products, reduce imports and gradually make Vietnam a modern industrialised nation by 2020 is the primary direction of the Government, industries and businesses. However, our supporting industries have a lot of existing shortcomings and inadequacies. Although the Government has recently adopted many policies to develop supporting industries, businesses have not been able to access full supports as provided by those policies.
Representatives of many participating businesses expressed distresses to wait for supports or incentives from the State, particularly tax and loan, but they have not received any. Therefore, they actually hope for supports from Japan.
Hirotaka Yasuzumi said Vietnamese supporting industries are faced with plenty of difficulties. Vietnamese companies now can supply just 28.7 percent of auxiliary projects for Japanese firms, much lower than other countries in Asia like China with 59.7 percent and Thailand with 53 percent. He said "In the past 10 years, JETRO has supported itemise and strengthen auxiliary industries in Vietnam through various promotion programmes. And, promoting and supporting the local supply for Japanese businesses operating in Vietnam is our top priority.”
Hiroyuki Mizunoe, expert of the supporting industry development project under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said the appeal of Vietnam to Japanese investors is weaker than other countries in the region (Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) because its supporting industries are too poor, weak and inclined to deteriorate this year. He analaysed that if Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) enhance their technical capabilities plus low prices, its competitiveness will quickly increase.
He added that to assist Vietnamese businesses to develop supporting industries, JICA is cooperating with the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) to carry out supporting industry development project. The project aims to prepare for Vietnam’s accession to ASEAN Free Trade Area in 2015 and realise the goal of becoming an industrialised country by 2020. The project will help extend the life of machines, improve product and manage quality, enhance productivity, and economise raw materials. As a result, Vietnamese firms can meet supplier requirements of large Japanese companies. All support programmes, all free, are organised in production factories of Vietnamese companies from three months to one year.
To date, 29 Vietnamese enterprises have been benefited from the support project and 22 new companies are attending. Mizunoe said Vietnamese companies operating in 14 prioritised technical fields (moulding - lacing - fixture, assembly, packaging materials, plastic - rubber, equipment maintenance, engineering, forging, electrical - electronics components, heat treatment, stamping parts, compression casting, plating - painting, welding, and casting) should not hesitate to contact directly with the JICA offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for instructions to join the project.
To support Japanese manufacturers and assemblers to seek suppliers from Vietnam, JETRO and Reed Tradex Company will jointly organise the Machine Tools and Metalworking Technology Exhibition (Metalex Vietnam 2012) and the Exhibition on Assembly, Measurement and Testing Technologies for Electronics Manufacturing (Nepcon Vietnam 2012) from October 4 to 6, 2012 at the Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre (SECC) in Ho Chi Minh City.
Metalex Vietnam is expected to bring together 500 leading brands from 25 countries. Meanwhile, Nepcon Vietnam 2012 is hoped to gather 200 brands from 25 countries. Both exhibitions focus on manufacturing and supporting industries, aimed to support businesses to reach new heights. Visitors will have the opportunity to update knowledge, new technology and trends through conferences and technological presentations there.
Metalex and Nepcon not only give domestic manufacturers an opportunity to meet new buyers but also access new technologies and inventions, form a exchange floor for sellers and buyers.
Le Phuong
Vietnamese
