Jetro chief upbeat over Vetnam

Japanese investors are continuing to smile at Vietnam

Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) chief Yasuo Hayashi said despite effects of the current global economic gloominess stemmed from the US’ woes, with its dynamic economy, Vietnam would sustain its growth rate.

Hayashi last week made his first official visit to Vietnam since taking up the top job of the Japanese Government-related organisation working to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world.

“I am persuaded that your economic growth will stand not far from the point of 8.7 per cent for this year forecasted in our recent East Asia Outlook,” he said, adding that Jetro would not modify its announced expectations.

In the 2008 Economic Outlook for East Asia, Jetro upbeats Vietnam’s economic development with growth rate of 8.7 per cent, up 0.3 per cent year-on-year and inflation reduced to 8.1 per cent.

However, Hayashi said as a message to the Vietnamese Government, that the country needed a more open economy, greater trade freedom and much enhanced investment environment. Besides, he highlighted the importance of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) that would boost the mutual economic cooperation between Vietnam and Japan to a new height, facilitating the bilateral trade exchanges and creating momentum for the implementation of projects.

Hayashi took the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park project as a case study for the cooperation between the two countries. However, despite being impressed by the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s announcement considering the project as a prioritised venture, he called for Dung’s approval of the masterplan for the project as soon as possible.

“Infrastructure, production costs, supporting industries, friendly policies including taxation are the most concerning issues by Japanese companies but in fact many of them are in poor condition,” he said.
“Therefore, if a masterplan for Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park is approved, that will be a nice message to Japanese investors that Vietnam is completing the investment environment,” he said.

Hayashi also expressed highly positive reception over Dung’s confirmation facilitating other big projects such as the North-South railway system and road and metro systems in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
As for domestic enterprises, appreciating the diligence of Vietnamese people, Hayashi talked down the internal orientation of local companies.

“They only focus on the domestic market but ignore international playgrounds,” he said, stressing that if such companies were not aware of the need of competition from outside, it was hard for them to exist in an increasing opening market.

“Vietnam is a true strategic partner of Japan,” said Hayashi.