More Japanese enterprises have come to Ho Chi Minh City this year to sound out business prospects, a local newspaper quoted Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’ Committee Hua Ngoc Thuan as saying.

According to the Saigon Times Daily, Thuan said in the year to date, many delegations of senior Japanese officials have visited HCM City and these delegations have helped bring more Japanese investors to the city.

Japanese companies have invested in 668 projects in HCM City with combined registered capital of 25 billion USD.

“The numbers will increase as many big firms of Japan have expressed their keen interest in the city,” Thuan said at a meeting on August 19 with Japanese House of Representatives member Hase Hiroshi and representatives of Japanese enterprises.

The first Vietnam-Japan industrial park will come online in the city in late October this year and the city government wants to call for Japanese firms to invest in high-tech and supporting industries, Thuan said.

At the meeting, Hiroshi introduced some enterprises and university presidents accompanying him to Vietnam this time. He expected those firms will find partners in the city and achieve success as what Japan’s Mitani Sangyo Co. Ltd. has done when raising its staff to 1,500 after starting its business in HCM City with only one employee 20 years ago.

A survey announced by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) earlier this year showed 70 percent of Japanese investors said they want to expand their operations in Vietnam despite concerns over the investment environment.

According to the Daily, Atsusuke Kawada, head of the JETRO office in Hanoi, predicted that Japanese firms will invest more in supporting industries in addition to other sectors. More Japanese firms will shift operations from China to Vietnam in the coming years to offset rising production costs in China.-VNA