HCM CITY — Việt Nam is a top destination for Japan’s mechanical engineering companies seeking investment opportunities in Southeast Asia, said Itoh Kaori, head of a business delegation from Gifu prefecture.

At a Việt Nam-Japan trade exchange held in HCM City on Wednesday, she said Việt Nam attracted great interest from many Japanese enterprises, especially those in the mechanical engineering industry, as the country had a developing industrial sector, an abundant workforce with good quality and low production expenses.

Japanese firms are impressed by the industriousness of Vietnamese people. They also highly value the country’s political stability and favourable policies on investment and trade, according to Kaori.

In recent years, Việt Nam has posted high and stable economic growth along with improving its infrastructure, which is the foundation and driving force behind Japan’s move to bolster trade and investment ties with the nation.

Đặng Xuân Quang, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said the manufacturing and processing industries absorbed the largest portion of Japan’s investment in Việt Nam.

As of the end of September 2016, Japan had more than 1,500 manufacturing and processing projects worth almost US$33 billion in Việt Nam.

The two sides are set to focus their cooperation on six industries in the near future: electronics, agricultural machinery, agro-fishery processing, shipbuilding, automobile and spare part production, and environment and energy. This is a good opportunity for Japanese mechanical engineering companies to enhance partnerships and investment promotion, he said.

Japan is currently the second largest investor among the 112 countries and territories investing in Việt Nam. It has invested in more than 3,200 projects here, with registered capital of over $42 billion so far. — VNS