Vietnamese firms operating in agriculture need support from Japanese partners in consumption and technology transfers, an official from the Ho Chi Minh City Agricultural Hi-Tech Park said at a recent trade and investment promotion event in Ho Chi Minh City.

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Technology transfers from Japanese enterprises to their Vietnamese partners will only become successful if the former can guarantee to consume what the latter produce, Dinh Minh Hiep, director of the Agricultural Hi-Tech Park, said at the “Japan-Vietnam Trade and Investment Promotion 2015" forum on July 31.

Technology transfers from Japan are good, but it would be better if the Japanese market could use up what is produced with Japanese technology in Vietnam, for it is very hard for the Vietnamese market to consume such high-priced agro-produce, Hiep said, adding that exporting such products to the East Asian country is the best option available to Vietnamese firms.

However, Mukuta Satoshi, senior managing director of the Japan Business Federation of Keidanren, said that as the produce of Vietnamese partners is created in accordance with Japanese standards, which are among the world’s strictest, it can be easily sold to other countries.

If not sold to Japan, Vietnamese products can be shipped to surrounding countries, where many Japanese expats live, Satoshi added.

Speaking at the forum, Nguyen Trung Dung, trade counselor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, said that Vietnamese enterprises should join hands with Japanese companies to solve technological problems instead of importing their equipment and technologies at high prices.

Vietnamese firms, particularly small businesses, can contact the Vietnam trade office under the embassy to seek opportunities to cooperate with Japanese enterprises, Dung added.

Still a regional magnet for trade, investment

Satoshi, from the Japan Business Federation of Keidanren, which represents 30 major Japanese companies that were exploring investment opportunities in the southern city during the event, said that Japanese businesses consider Vietnam a gateway to the ASEAN market.

ASEAN member countries include Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Later this year, after the ASEAN Economic Community is formed, the role of Vietnam will become increasingly important as a business base in the strategic global supply chain, he said.

As a result, it is a very good time for Japanese and their Vietnamese partners to boost cooperation to seize the opportunity to serve the 600-million-strong ASEAN market, Satoshi added.

Pho Nam Phuong, director of the Investment and Trade Promotion of Ho Chi Minh City, said the city has recently focused on simplifying procedures for foreign investment by applying information technology in the management process.

It will take foreign investors less time to carry out many administrative procedures, such as three days for business registration and 15 days for investment registration, Phuong said.

Along with this, Ho Chi Minh City leaders regularly organize meetings and dialogues with businesses, including foreign investors, to solve problems promptly and provide timely information about the general economic development of the city, she added.

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