Analysts said that Japanese investors always set up a plant in China and another plant either in Vietnam or India at the same time. Does this mean that there is a competition between Vietnam and Japan in attracting Japanese investment?
Japanese businessmen are surveying India’s and Vietnam’s markets at the same time. However, they find out that making investments in Vietnam is more advantageous because of the small scale and the cultural similarity between the two countries. A business has to hire 7-8,000, and sometimes 20-30,000 workers when setting up a plant in India, which causes difficulties for the management work. Meanwhile, the scale of the plants in Vietnam may be smaller, which will be easier for the management. Besides, the same ways of thinking and the cultural similarities of Vietnamese and Japanese are also the reasons that make Japanese investors lean towards Vietnam as the investment destination. Vietnam is a member of AFTA, which means when you produce in Vietnam, you also produce for ASEAN as a whole, which India does not.
Which fields can Vietnam and Japan cooperate in, besides investment?
The two countries can take full advantage of the APEC, ASEAN + 3 and ASEAN + 6 to cooperate in many fields. I think the relationship between the two countries is in good condition. However, what I regret most is that not many Japanese people can watch the TV programmes or read the books about Vietnam, and a similar situation is occurring in Vietnam while there are too many films and books from the Republic of Korea or China. If you can have good propaganda programmes, Vietnam’s image will become more popular among Japanese people, which will create favourable conditions for the development of the relationship between two countries.
How can you seen the changes during the last 3.5 years of living in Vietnam?
I have seen many good changes, but the traffic congestion has become worse and worse. HCM City now looks like Bangkok 10 years ago. There are too many immigrants and the number of motorbikes and cars has been increasing dramatically. It is very difficult to find out the solutions to this problem just in a short time. The overloaded traffic will prevent investors from coming to Vietnam.
Source: Tuoi tre
