The Investment and Trade Promotion Centre and the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) hosted the third forum on Vietnam ’s support industry in HCM City on Aug. 1.

Hiroyuki Mizunoe, expert of the support industry development project under the Japanese International Cooperation Agency said the promotion of local supply for Japanese companies operating in Vietnam is a top priorities.

Under the project, Vietnam ’s small and medium-sized enterprises will receive free assistance for between three months and a year.

As many as 29 Vietnamese businesses have so far benefited from the project, which will be carried out in a further 22 firms in the near future.

Statistics of the JETRO office showed that the local supply of materials and spare parts reaches a mere 30 percent of the need of Japanese companies in Vietnam , lower than other countries in the region.

The forum’s organisers announced that the fifth exhibition on supply and demand for the support industry and the Metalex – Nepcon Vietnam exhibition 2012 are due to take place in HCM City in October.-VNA