Vietnam vows to protect Japanese investors’ interests: PM

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc participates in the G20 Summit in Tokyo (Source: VNA)

He told the participants that Vietnam has maintained social stability and high economic growth over the past years, which is an important factor for foreign investors to feel secured in running business and investment in the nation.

The country is also integrating intensively and extensively into the world economy, reflected through having relations with 220 nations and territories. Notably, on June 30, it is set to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union. It has also inked FTAs with 15 nations in the Group of Twenty (G20).

He went on to say that there are currently 130 nations and territories investing in Vietnam with a total capital of 350 billion USD, of which over 200 billion USD has been disbursed. Japan is one of Vietnam’s biggest investors with nearly 60 billion USD.

PM Phuc also affirmed that Vietnam is striving for building an e-cabinet to serve as a foundation for digital economic development in Vietnam.

As Japan is a developed country with numerous big investors in the IT sector, the Vietnamese Government always wants to encourage the country’s enterprises, including those in this field, invest more in Vietnam, he stressed.

At the meeting, most leaders of Japanese technology firms such as Hitachi, Toshiba, Hanwa, Daikin, Fujitsu, Kajima and Kansai Economy, which have invested in Vietnam for a long time, expressed their hope to expand investment, business and production in the country.

They suggested Vietnam pay more attention to human resources training to better serve socio-economic development in the time ahead.

They hoped the Vietnamese Government to speed up the granting of business licences to foreign investment, and be more flexible in approving business plans, particularly in the IT sector as the business climate in this field is changing rapidly.

Appreciating the proposals, PM Phuc said that Vietnam considers human resources training, especially in the IT sector, as an important task and is striving for more than 1 million high-quality personnel working in the sector in the 2020-2025 period.

Vietnam hopes that Japanese universities, research institutes and IT firms will actively participate in IT human resources training and teaching in the nation, he added.

On the same day, the Vietnamese Government leader received Koichi Miyata, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) – a big Japanese investor in the finance-banking sector in Vietnam.

Speaking highly of the corporation’s investment in Vietnam, he showed his belief that SMBC will contribute more to boosting Vietnam-Japan economic, trade and financial cooperation.