Vietnam calls for Japanese investment in key industries

Hanoi (VNA) - The sixth meeting of the Vietnam - Japan Joint Committee for industrial, trade and energy cooperation took place in Hanoi on November 3 under the co-chair of Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien and Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Nishimura Yasutoshi.

Cooperation in promoting industrial development

The officials reaffirmed the importance of the Joint Committee in tackling difficulties and ensuring stable and continuous development of bilateral trade and investment ties.

They discussed ways for the two countries to step up cooperation in fostering trade and investment, enhancing supply chain resilience, developing the digital economy, boosting renewable energy and low-carbon emissions, and accelerating industrialisation in Vietnam.

Dien spoke highly of the contribution of Japanese investors to the improvement of production capacity in Vietnam, helping many local firms join supply chains of Japanese and global businesses over the past years.

He asked for coordination from the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry to create favourable conditions for and encourage more Japanese businesses to shift their investments and supply chains to Vietnam, especially in key and supporting industries.

He also called on both sides to maintain the sharing of information, experience, and policies on developing environmentally friendly vehicles.

Both ministers applauded the cooperation results in the automobile industry. There has been fruitful implementation of the action plan on cooperation in the automobile and supporting industries, and projects on personnel training and capacity building for supporting industries of automobile components in Vietnam.

They agreed to establish a joint working group between their ministries to build co-creation projects to boost future-oriented industries. These include the semiconductor, artificial intelligence, space, and the biotechnology industry, which they said are vital to socio-economic development.

In terms of trade, Dien and Nishimura looked into the collaboration in promoting economic integration in Asia-Pacific by fruitfully implementing the new-generation free trade agreements and multilateral cooperation frameworks to which both Vietnam and Japan are parties.

They welcomed the official entry into force of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in the founding members, and the UK becoming the 12th member economy of this deal in 2023.

They agreed that the expansion of the CPTPP membership should be based on the maintenance of this pact’s high standards as well as the experience gained during the negotiation on the admission of the UK.

Both host and guest shared the view that the establishment of a unit for supporting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will help the enforcement of this agreement turn highly productive.

Working to boost transition to clean energy

Amid the slow global economic recovery and the unpredictable nature of geopolitics, the two sides agreed to work closely to seek concrete measures to raise bilateral trade in a balanced manner. They also agreed to foster ties in developing e-commerce and digital economy, open their markets to agricultural products, and carry out more activities to create opportunities for businesses to increase trade and investment.

With regard to energy cooperation, Nishimura lauded Vietnam’s approval of National Power Development Plan VIII and efforts in energy transition. This includes becoming one of the first countries to participate in the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP). He considered this an important legal basis for major businesses in Japan to boost investment in Vietnam’s energy sector.

At the event, the officials appreciated the two ministries’ efforts to draft and asked for the early signing of a cooperation document on energy transition to support the process in Vietnam.

In particular, they agreed to work closely to help address obstacles to some energy projects Japanese investors take part in, and promote partnerships in biomass energy, offshore wind power, and rare earth development.

Dien welcomed the cooperation goodwill of Japanese businesses, noting that his ministry is coordinating with relevant agencies of Vietnam to speed up energy projects of companies from both countries.

Calling for more investment from Japan, he stated that the Vietnamese Government always supports and provides optimal conditions for foreign investment projects that can help the country with effective and sustainable energy transition to achieve the target of net zero emissions by 2050.

At the event, the ministers also witnessed the handover of cooperation documents between Vietnamese and Japanese firms./.