Hanoi accommodates JETRO’s first Invest Japan Seminar in Vietnam

JETRO held a seminar titled “Doing Business with Japan” in Hanoi, Vietnam on July 5. Do Nhat Hoang, Director General of Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI), and Kastsuro Nagai, Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, delivered opening remarks in their capacity as co-organizer and organizer respectively and presented their expectations for extended business relations between the two countries. For Vietnam, this was the first large-scale Invest Japan Seminar held in the country. Attracting 212 participants from Vietnamese companies and other entities and receiving exposure from 48 media sources, the event garnered a significant positive response from Vietnamese business circles.

JETRO’s Executive Vice President Shigeki Maeda made a keynote speech and referred to the Japanese government’s agenda to realize an IT-oriented society at the world’s highest level by 2020, sharing his expectations for Vietnamese companies to invest in Japan, especially in the IT industry which is a promising sector of Vietnam’s. He underlined that Japan as an investment destination is a huge, very attractive and sophisticated market and called for Vietnamese companies thinking of investing in Japan to talk to JETRO first. Another speaker who delivered a keynote speech, Vu Van Chung, Deputy Director General of FIA said “We want to expand investment from Vietnam to Japan, which still remains at a low level, by tapping into affluent human resources, the talent of many Vietnamese students studying the Japanese language in Japan and the prowess of Vietnamese business sectors expected to strengthen in the future”.

Nguyen Si Hai, a staff member at JETRO Hanoi, presented JETRO’s services to the participants. In the following networking session, many of the participants visited JETRO’s booth to receive individual consultation on investing in Japan. Vietnamese attendees voiced positive reactions in answers to a questionnaire made by JETRO such as “I found good opportunities for locating in Japan,” indicating eager interest in investment. Many participants also visited other booths set out by the prefectural governments from Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka and Saitama and municipal governments from Kobe, Fukuoka and Kyoto, and active exchange between the participants and local government representatives was seen.