Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung reiterated the Vietnamese Government’s commitment to providing optimal conditions for foreign investors, including those from Japan, as he met local major firms in Tokyo on Friday.

The Vietnamese premier is in Japan to attend the 7th Mekong-Japan Summit, and yesterday chaired a discussion with representatives from 15 major Japanese groups as part of the visit to the East Asian country.

This was the second time Dung addressed leading Japanese enterprises including Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Canon, Sumitomo, Hitachi, and Bridgestone, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The first function was organized in late 2013 with executives from 11 Japanese companies.

The Vietnamese leader told the meeting that Vietnam’s GDP increased by 6.28 percent in the first six months of 2015 and could expand by 6.5 percent this year, the highest rate since 2011.

He also said Vietnam and other ASEAN countries are striving to build an ASEAN Economic Community with a population of 625 million and a total GDP of US$2.5 trillion by the end of this year.

Vietnam is now working with partner countries, including the U.S. and Japan, to rapidly conclude negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement so that the pact can be signed soon, the premier said

He also highly appreciated the strategic partnership between his country and Japan, who has continually been the top donor of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam over the past 20 years.

Japan is currently Vietnam’s biggest investor with $38 billion poured into the Southeast Asian country in 2015 and its third largest trade partner with trade expected to reach near $30 billion this year, the Vietnamese leader said.

He also told the meeting that Vietnam is taking measures to remove business obstacles in the fields of taxation, customs, construction and land.

Representatives of Japanese companies at the function valued the Vietnamese Government’s efforts to improve its business environment, and said they are interested in expanding their investment in Vietnam.

During the meeting, the PM and Vietnamese ministers exchanged opinions and replied to questions raised by Japanese entrepreneurs.

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