1st Invest Japan Seminar in Ho Chi Minh City

On December 19, JETRO held an "Invest Japan Seminar" in Ho Chi Minh City, its first in the city and second in Vietnam.

Following opening remarks by Chief Representative Koji Takimoto of JETRO Ho Chi Minh, Consul General Junichi Kawaue of the Consulate General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City mentioned in his guest remarks that while economic and cultural exchange between Vietnam and Japan has been steadily expanding, investment to Japan from Vietnam remained modest, and he expressed his consulate’s commitment to extending full support to Vietnamese companies investing in Japan.

In his keynote speech, JETRO Executive Vice President Shigeki Maeda spoke on how Japan is included among destination countries where Vietnamese companies aspire to start business abroad, and emphasized that business opportunities lie in fields such as IT and tourism-related business in which Vietnamese companies have competitiveness, touching on successful cases of them entering Japan through business alliances with Japanese companies. He made an emphatic call for Vietnamese companies to contact JETRO first if they are interested in investment into Japan.

Vu Van Chung, Deputy Director General of the Foreign Investment Agency of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, gave a presentation along with data regarding the trends of overseas investment by Vietnamese companies, and announced that his agency aims to increase the number of Vietnamese companies investing overseas to a million by 2020. In this regard, he stressed that there are opportunities for Vietnamese companies to invest in the Japanese market, which is in an upward trend owing to the economic strategy Abenomics.

Both JETRO offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City introduced their support services which are available for Vietnamese companies aspiring to start business in Japan as well as actual cases of companies using those services. Vietnamese participants praised this part as an excellent opportunity to learn of JETRO's support projects. JETRO's consultation corner also received numerous inquiries from companies. In a question-and-answer session, statements and questions expressing high interest in investment in Japan were heard, such as: "We would like to learn how to proceed with approval procedures when starting business in Japan," and "What is the minimum budget a Vietnamese SME should expect to spend between incorporation and launching operations in Japan?”

Following the seminar, a networking reception was held and consultation desks were individually set up to respond to inquiries by six local governments and institutes (Kanagawa, Chiba and Okinawa Prefectures; the Aichi-Nagoya International Business Access Center ; the Osaka Business and Investment Center ; and Yokohama City) as well as the two Vietnamese companies that presented, FPT Japan and VietJet Air.