The dialogue themed “Vietnam’s integration and development.” PM Phuc directly held dialogues and answered questions raised by participating Japanese businesses. Vietnamese Government will continue creating an open and favorable environment for many forms of businesses to grow, regarding foreign-invested enterprises as a crucial part of the economy as well as stepping up administrative reform and reducing expenditures for investors, he affirmed. The Government will maintain a peaceful environment and stabilize the macro-economy for investors, he added.
PM Phuc made speech at Vietnam-Japan high-level economic policy dialogue
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The Japanese side noted hope for closer ties with Vietnam, particularly in areas of Japan’s strengths like garments-textiles, energy, personnel training, and education. Japan is ready to assist Vietnamese businesses in joining post-TPP global value chains. The country is keen to enhance collaboration with the Southeast Asian nation in infrastructure development, education and training.
In his remarks, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc said Vietnam and Japan share a lot of similarities. Japan is Vietnam’s largest official development assistance (ODA) provider who has contributed to the country’s infrastructure development, the leader said, citing the construction of Nhat Tan Bridge in Hanoi as the latest example of the assistance. Japan is also Vietnam’s second largest investor with more than 3,000 projects with a total registered capital of over 39 billion USD and the country’s fourth largest trade partner, the PM added.
Briefing the Japanese side on the socio-economic achievements of Vietnam in recent times, the PM said that despite an array of difficulties and challenges, the country has still maintained its economic growth of nearly 6.7 percent, the highest level since 2011. Vietnam was one of the fastest-growing emerging markets in 2015, he noted.
In the near future, Vietnam will have free trade relations with 55 global partners, encompassing all the seven G7 members, and 15 out of the 20 members of the G-20 group. Vietnam will focus on reforming its institutions, increasing productivity and competitiveness, and restructuring the economy. A number of State-owned businesses will be equitised and join the stock market in the next three years, offering a brilliant opportunity for foreign investors – especially those from Japan – to engage in investment and become strategic shareholders, he said.
In that spirit, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc encouraged Japanese businesses to invest in six key areas under the Vietnam-Japan industrialisation development cooperation framework, including agro-fishery processing; electronics; automobiles and auto parts; agricultural machinery; the environmental industry and energy conservation; and shipbuilding. He also called on Japanese investors to pump money into infrastructure development projects, public-private partnerships (PPP), high-quality services, and engagement in the equitisation of Vietnamese State-owned businesses.
He also suggested sharing experience in start-up projects and developing support industry of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Vietnam welcomes Japan’s opening of its market for Vietnamese fruits such as mango, lychee and dragon fruit, and hopes more made-in-Vietnam seafood, consumer goods, electrics and spare parts could enter the Japanese market.
Viet Nam is determined to establishing a transparent Government, serving people and businesses and making efforts to improve the business environment, he affirmed, adding that the nation has focused on completing the mechanisms, increasing capacity, effectiveness and competitiveness as well as restructuring the economy, accelerating administrative procedures and upgrading infrastructure.
In conclusion, PM Phuc proposed orientations for Vietnam and Japan to enhance cooperation in investment, trade and tourism. He encouraged the Japanese investors to pour investment in six areas detailed in the Action Plan for the Viet Nam Industrialization Strategy within the framework of Viet Nam - Japan cooperation and projects in such areas as infrastructure development in the form of Public-Private Partnership (PPP), high-quality services and equitization of State-owned enterprises.
