Meeting with General Secretary of Communist Party of Vietnam

September 2015

On September 16, JETRO Chairman and CEO Hiroyuki Ishige met with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong of the Vietnam Communist Party at the State Guest House on the occasion of his official visit to Japan.

During their meeting, Chairman Ishige introduced the results of the JETRO Survey on Business Conditions of Japanese-Affiliated Firms in Asia and Oceania, emphasizing the fact that over 60% of Japanese companies operating in Vietnam planned to “expand” business. He also pointed out the challenges they are facing including a low average rate of local procurement at 33%. Based on this current situation, Chairman Ishige pledged that JETRO would play an important role in developing supporting industries in Vietnam and introduced specific examples of JETRO’s cooperative activities for this purpose such as holding exhibitions and business matching events for part procurement.

Chairman Ishige also made a request regarding the issue of import restrictions on used machinery, for which Vietnam aims at early introduction, saying, “Japanese take great pains in the care and maintenance of their tools. We hope for used machinery to be evaluated by its performance instead of being excluded due to an age limit”.

General Secretary Trong expressed his appreciation for JETRO’s contribution to developing supporting industries and said, “Vietnam is currently focusing on agriculture, industry, trade and infrastructure development. We welcome not only new investment but also expansion of current investment. When the ASEAN Economic Community is established at the end of this year, ASEAN will become an enormous market of 600 million people which will possess a great potential. We respectfully encourage Japan to invest in these priority areas as well as the high-tech industries”. Regarding the issue related to import of used machinery, he also said, “I recognize this as a major, compelling challenge for investors”.