“Vietnamese businesses need to be more transparent to cooperate with Japanese companies successfully and efficiently,” said Mr Masahiro Nishida, Secretary General of the Japanese Business Association of Ho Chi Minh City (JBAH), during an interview granted to the Vietnam Business Forum. Le Phuong reports.
Could you please introduce some typical activities of JBAH in recent years?
JBAH currently has three main functions in Vietnam: (1) supporting Japanese companies to learn about legal policies in Vietnam; (2) collecting opinions of Japanese companies to form recommendations to the government for support; and (3) organising roundtables with the HCM City People's Committee and relevant agencies in a bid to improve the investment environment in Vietnam.
In addition, JBAH has many social activities like collaborating with the Japanese community to build Japanese schools in HCM City for children of Japanese investors - an important element to spur Japan's investment into Vietnam; granting scholarships for Vietnamese university students; organising spoken Japanese contests; and hosting annual charity activities to raise funds for the Association for Poor Patient Support in HCM City. For the above operations, JBAH was honoured with the Third-grade Labour Order by former President Nguyen Minh Triet.
How would you describe the investment trend in the Japanese business community in Vietnam?
At present, Japanese firms tend to boost production activities in Asia, and Vietnam of course draws their attention.
Besides, the food processing sector is also on the list of areas of interest for Japanese companies. They tend to enter joint ventures with Vietnamese partners. They hold advantages in capital, experience and technology, while the Vietnamese side has available manufacturing plants. However, to make Vietnamese - Japanese joint ventures operate successfully, I think, Vietnamese enterprises need to be more transparent, particularly on issues related to corporate information.
What should Vietnam do to attract and facilitate Japanese businesses to invest in Vietnam?
Firstly, Vietnam should focus on improving infrastructure and legal framework. Next, it should offer tax incentives for businesses.
In addition, although Vietnam has a lot of industrial zones, qualified zones for Japanese investors are not many. To attract Japanese investors into industrial zones, Vietnam should establish a unit responsible for supporting Japanese companies there. This unit must have Japanese-speaking staffs to consult on procedures and supply necessary information, because small and medium Japanese enterprises speak English poorly and are not familiar with investment procedures in Vietnam.
Japan has long been a strategic partner of Vietnam. As soon as these factors are resolved, I think, Vietnam - Japan investment relations will also go further and we need to take advantage of this prospect.
Vietnamese
