Japan’s leading conglomerate Marubeni Corporation is committed to long-term business in Vietnam, especially in the fields of electricity development, liquified natural gas, waste water treatment, among others, according to Masumi Kakinori, Marubeni’s CEO.
Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung (r) and Masumi Kakinori, Marubeni’s CEO (l). Source: VGP.
|
With Vietnam being a major market in Asia of Marubeni, Deputy PM Dung requested the Japanese conglomerate to focus investment in the country’s priority sectors, including trade, energy, food processing and textile.
Dung considered Marubeni’s strong business growth in Vietnam an evidence of the comprehensive and substantial Vietnam – Japan relations.
Currently, Japan is one of Vietnam’s top economic, trade and investment partners. The Northeast Asian country is also the latter’s largest ODA donor with US$30 billion, the second largest investor (4,020 projects with registered capital of US$57 billion), the fourth largest trading partner (bilateral trade turnover of US$38 billion in 2018) and the third largest partner in tourism (800,000 Japanese tourists visited Vietnam in 2018 and 200,000 Vietnamese to Japan).
According to Dung, Vietnam gives priority to the economic cooperation with Japan, adding Japanese enterprises operating in Vietnam have contributed significantly to the country’s socio-economic development.
Dung expected Marubeni and other Japanese enterprises to expand investment activities and form stronger linkage with local enterprises in Vietnam through technology transfers, especially as the country has signed multiple free trade agreements, including the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Both Vietnam and Japan are member states of the CPTPP.
Additionally, Dung suggested Marubeni could cooperate with Vietnamese enterprises in producing and distributing made-in-Vietnam products to Japanese and other markets.
The Vietnamese government continues to reform administrative procedures and improve its business environment, aiming for a more transparent and favorable business environments, Dung added.
Marubeni generates yearly revenue of US$100 billion globally and has 130 branches and offices in 66 countries and regions.
The Japanese conglomerate entered Vietnam in 1991, focusing on trading activities and infrastructure development. Marubeni is Vietnam’s top exporter of seafood, coffee and one of major distributors of cereal and petroleum products.
