Representatives from nearly 40 Japanese firms operating in the sphere of support industries, mechanics, automobile manufacturing and others are making a business trip to seek investment and cooperation opportunities in Ho Chi Minh City.

At a January 14 conference held to connect enterprises in support industries from Japan’s Ehime Prefecture and those in HCM City, Mitsutoshi Okabe, head of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) office in Ehime Prefecture, noted the two sides share many similarities in business, trade and investment. He said he hopes that through the event, Japanese firms will find investment partners in HCM City and surrounding localities.

Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Manh Ha said the city, Vietnam’s robust economic and industrial hub, has taken a large number of measures with focus placed on establishing industrial, export processing and high-tech zones to attract foreign investment.

Ha suggested the two sides’ businesses, especially small- and medium–sized enterprises, utilise this event to introduce their products and technologies as well as establish effective partnerships.

By 2013, the inflow of foreign investment into the city had reached around 33 billion USD, of this 11 billion USD was poured into industrial production. Japan ranks third among the city’s foreign investors with a total investment of over 3 billion USD.-VNA