National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ meets Japanese business representatives in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sáng

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam is a key location for production centre establishment, according to the co-chairs of the Việt Nam-Japan Economic Committee at a meeting with National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ on Thursday.

Fujimoto Masayoshi and Hyodo Masayuki, heads of the committee, were leading a business delegation from the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) to attend a summit launching the Việt Nam-Japan Joint Initiative in the New Era.

The project consists of five major groups of issues: promoting the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC); green transition, innovation and digital transformation; strengthening the supply chain; high-quality human resources training (in IT, artificial intelligence and semiconductors); and mechanism reforms to improve the business climate.

Speaking with the Vietnamese top legislator, Japanese representatives agreed that Việt Nam is a developing country with a large population, a hardworking labour force and a high-potential consumer market.

Many Japanese businesses are looking to contribute to bilateral ties and expand their operations in Việt Nam, especially in human resources training for software development, supporting industries and clean energy production, they said.

Keidanren members hoped that in the near future, the Vietnamese National Assembly (NA) and government will further accelerate administrative reforms to improve the business-investment climate and attract more Japanese companies.

NA Chairman Huệ gave high regard to the Việt Nam-Japan Joint Initiative, which has been executed successfully for the past 20 years.

Việt Nam always attaches great importance to and welcomes Japanese investment in Việt Nam, as well as their recommendation for legal and administrative reforms for a better business environment, he reiterated.

He also agreed that the five areas of focus in the initiative are emerging and crucial sectors, and expects that Keidanren, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment, and other government agencies would devise a specific, practical and effective action plan.

They should also work to clarify the cooperation mechanism, nature of operations, financial resources and stakeholder responsibilities, while also evaluating the unsuccessful cooperation in the six focus industries in the 2013 Industrialisation Strategy, for lessons learnt.

As part of the legislation for plan implementation, the Vietnamese NA is looking into related bills such as the Law on Defence, Security Industries and Industry Mobilisation, in addition to administrative and educational reforms.

NA Chairman Huệ also asked the Việt Nam-Japan Economic Committee and Keidanren to continue working with Vietnamese departments to increase dialogues on policies as well as information and experience exchange to improve the Vietnamese business-investment climate.

Keidanren is also encouraged to promote Việt Nam’s image and investment opportunities and environment to major Japanese corporations, especially in the five key sectors of the joint initiative.

A new era

A meeting was held in Hà Nội on Wednesday to launch the first phase of the Việt Nam-Japan Joint Initiative in the New Era.

In his remarks, Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyễn Chí Dũng said that the initiative, which began in April 2003, is a special cooperation between the two governments.

Via the establishment of a policy dialogue forum between Japanese investors and related Vietnamese ministries and sectors, it has contributed to building a transparent and conducive business climate in the Southeast Asian country, and offered policy recommendations as reference for law and policy refinement processes by local agencies.

Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam Yamada Takio said after two decades, the initiative completed eight phases, with 84 per cent of the workload finished on time, boosting foreign capital inflows in Việt Nam, particularly from Japan.

Participating Vietnamese and Japanese delegates agreed that the first phase would last for 19 months, with a mid-term review meeting slated for December this year and a summit to assess the entire process in October 2025.

The two sides pledged cooperative efforts and active implementation of commitments in the action plan to meet the set goals, for the mutual prosperity of the Vietnamese and Japanese business communities and to enhance the two countries’ relations.

As of February 20, Japanese investors had channelled US$74.3 billion into 5,288 projects in Việt Nam.

In the first two months of 2024, their registered investment amounted to $422.4 million, soaring by 290 per cent year-on-year. — VNS