Recently, at the Office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City, Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc Province met and worked with Mr. Hirai Shinji - Chief Representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City.
Overview of the meeting between JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City and
Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc Province.
In fact, Binh Phuoc is located in the Southern Key Economic Zone and borders the provinces of Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Dong Nai, Binh Duong and Tay Ninh. The transportation system in the province is increasingly being improved such as National Highway 13 connecting Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc and Cambodia, Laos and Thailand through Hoa Lu international border gate; Highway 14 connects the Central Highlands provinces through Binh Phuoc and Binh Duong to Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr. Hirai Shinji - Chief Representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh shared that he always advises Japanese entrepreneurs to quickly learn about investing in Binh Phuoc.
Over the past time, Binh Phuoc province has always created favorable conditions for foreign enterprises to invest, maintain and develop production and business activities. Up to now, Binh Phuoc province has attracted 350 foreign investment projects with a total investment capital of 3 billion 346 million USD from many countries and territories around the world.
Mr. Tran Quoc Duy - Director of Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc Province expects JETRO will join hands to invite Japanese enterprises to invest in Binh Phuoc.
During the meeting with JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City this time, Mr. Tran Quoc Duy - Director of Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc Province shared that the province currently has 7 projects by 4 Japanese investors with a total investment capital of 23 million USD, accounting for 0.7% of the province’s total FDI. Japanese enterprises investing in Binh Phuoc are mainly small and medium enterprises, focusing on wood processing and garment industries.
In addition, Mr. Duy informed about ongoing projects to improve transport infrastructure, shorten the time to travel and distance from Ho Chi Minh City to Binh Phuoc; about the investment environment in the province, the recruitment of local workers; policies to support foreign investors…
Mr. Tran Quoc Duy - Director of Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc Province (left) presents souvenirs to Mr. Hirai Shinji - Chief Representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr. Duy hopes JETRO will actively support in connecting Binh Phuoc province with some Japanese localities to learn, establish local-level cooperation, introduce Japanese enterprises to look for business cooperation opportunities and investment in Binh Phuoc through the organization of programs to connect trade, promote investment, in which paying attention to the transfer of advanced and modern Japanese scientific and technological products and services in the field of agricultural product processing to Binh Phuoc.
Mr. Duy suggested that Binh Phuoc and JETRO should organize a promotion conference between enterprises in the agricultural sector, cooperatives, and farmer households in the province with Japanese experts, enterprises and farmers who are implementing the model “One village, one product” - OVOP (One village, One product) in Japan; thereby helping Binh Phuoc effectively implement the program “One Commune, One Product” - OCOP (One Commune, One Product) implemented by Vietnam on the basis of learning from the OVOP model.
Mr. Hirai Shinji - Chief Representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh (second, right) and the delegation of Binh Phuoc province took souvenir photos.
In particular, Mr. Duy suggested that Binh Phuoc should cooperate with JETRO to organize online exchange programs, talk shows or forums to share information about Japanese enterprise culture and Japanese consumer culture; thereby helping Binh Phuoc enterprises to be more convenient when working with Japanese entrepreneurs and understand the tastes, preferences, product quality requirements, … of the Japanese people for Vietnamese goods.
In response to the representative of Binh Phuoc, Mr. Hirai Shinji - Chief Representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City thanked Mr. Tran Quoc Duy - Director of Center for Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion of Binh Phuoc Province for providing a lot of useful information to JETRO, helping JETRO have more advantages in the process of conveying necessary content to Japanese enterprises who are learning about the investment environment in Binh Phuoc.
A factory is springing up in Minh Hung Sikico Industrial Park with an area of 655 hectares (Hon Quan district, Binh Phuoc).
At the same time, Mr. Hirai Shinji expressed industrial parks in areas near Ho Chi Minh City will soon be filled up in the near future, so enterprises are inclined to choose locations far from Ho Chi Minh city to invest; through that, Binh Phuoc is now an attractive destination not only for Japanese enterprises but also for Korean and European enterprises.
Therefore, Mr. Hirai Shinji once emphasized to Japanese entrepreneurs that they need to be “faster” to find investment opportunities in Binh Phuoc, to avoid being “lost”.
Japfa factory is being built in Minh Hung Sikico Industrial Park with an area of 655 hectares (Hon Quan district, Binh Phuoc).
At the end of the meeting, Mr. Hirai Shinj- Chief Representative of JETRO in Ho Chi Minh City said that in the plan to survey the business environment, investment policy in 22 Southern provinces and cities, JETRO will soon have a business trip to Binh Phuoc to learn the strengths, investment and business environment in Binh Phuoc, serving to provide updated information for the Embassy, Consulate General, Japanese organizations and enterprises in order to contribute to attracting investment and developing the province's economy - society.
In addition, Mr. Hirai Shinji said that upcoming coordination activities between JETRO and Binh Phuoc will become very practical and meaningful in the context that Japan and Vietnam will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2023.
Over the past time, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Japan has made many progress. According to statistics, 4,935 investment projects from Japan into Vietnam have been approved with a total investment capital up to 64.5 billion USD (accumulated).
In terms of trade, Vietnam’s exports to Japan ranked 4th and imports from Japan to Vietnam ranked 3rd (in 2021), both of which are important partners of each other.
At present, about 450,000 Vietnamese are living and working in Japan. In particular, the number of Japanese companies expanding into Vietnam is increasing, the number of member companies of the Japan Business Association in Vietnam has increased to 2,000 enterprises.
JETRO officially opened an office in Hanoi in 1993 and in Ho Chi Minh City in 2000. Since then, Vietnam has received more and more attention and has become a favorite destination for Japanese manufacturing companies.
In Vietnam, JETRO is currently implementing activities focusing on the following fields: digital transformation, innovation; promoting overseas investment of Japanese companies (Vietnam is one of the top destinations); attracting foreign companies (investment of Vietnamese companies in Japan also increased); green economy, decarburization economy (a matter of great concern to Japanese companies); agricultural and seafood export (safety, security, health).