As many as 120 Vietnamese and Japanese enterprises sought partnership opportunities at a trade and industry cooperation promotion conference in Tokyo on September 13.

The firms are mostly small and medium-sized operating in iron and steel, metallurgy, electronics, plastics and agricultural machine manufacturing industries.

Addressing the event, Vietnamese Trade Counsellor to Japan Nguyen Trung Dung said the strategic partnership and the signed economic connectivity agreement between Vietnam and Japan are firm legal foundations to boost trade and investment cooperation between enterprises of both sides.

He noted that the Vietnamese Government has recently approved an industrialisation strategy in the framework of Vietnam-Japan cooperation until 2020, with a view to 2030, which specifies six prioritised industries and support industries to cooperate with Japan.

The six industries are electronics, agricultural machinery, processing of agricultural and seafood products, ship building, environment and energy saving, vehicle and spare part manufacturing, he added.

Dung said he hopes through the event, businesses from both countries, especially those operating in the prioritised sectors, will explore their cooperation prospects.

According to Dung, last year, two-way trade between Vietnam and Japan reached 25 billion USD, and is expected to rise 12 percent this year, hitting 28 billion USD, while Vietnam’s exports to Japan will increase by 14 percent.

Japan is now Vietnam ’s second largest export partner, he said, adding that there is room for bilateral economic ties to broaden, as the two countries have abundant advantages in the goods market that can supplement each other.

The counsellor said Japan is also one of Vietnam’s largest foreign investors, with 1,990 projects totalling 33 billion USD. It ranks first in the country’s ODA supplier line-up with 24 billion USD, accounting for 30 percent of total ODA Vietnam received from across the world, he added.-VNA