In his remarks, PM Phuc noted that Vietnam-Japan relations were developing well, with Japan being Vietnam’s largest provider of official development assistance (ODA), second-largest foreign direct investment (FDI) investor and fourth-largest trade partner.
Japan has invested an additional US$2 billion in Vietnam since May 2016, increasing its total investment in the Southeast Asian country to US$42 billion, he said, attributing this to the significant contributions of both nations’ enterprises.
Vietnam has developed an open economy of intensive integration, maintained macroeconomic and socio-political stability and actively and drastically improved the business climate with the aim of breaking into the leading group of ASEAN nations with regards to this issue in 2017, PM Phuc added.
He called on Japanese companies to invest in the fields of green growth, high-quality infrastructure, high-quality services, finance, banking, tourism, high-quality agriculture, manufacturing, the equitisation of State-owned enterprises and support for startup projects, expressing his hope that Japan would become the largest foreign investor in Vietnam.
Recalling the outcomes of his talks with PM Phuc, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe stressed that both sides had agreed to further expand trade and investment ties as well as to improve the investment environment.
He hailed ASEAN as the centre of the world’s economic growth, with Vietnam as part of that center, while speaking highly of the significant contributions of over 1,600 Japanese firms currently operating in Vietnam to the native socio-economic development process.
PM Abe asked PM Phuc and the Vietnamese government to continue their active support for Japanese companies as well as to listen to their aspirations.
Japanese businesses are keen on contributing to Vietnam’s development through technology transfers and human resources training and becoming good partners to Vietnamese enterprises, he affirmed.
