On the afternoon of March 1, at the Government Office, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a Dialogue with leading Japanese corporations and enterprises. Also attending were Deputy Prime Ministers Ho Duc Phoc and Nguyen Chi Dung; representatives of Vietnamese ministries, sectors, some localities, Vietnamese corporations and enterprises; and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki.
At the Seminar, the presentations focused on two main topics: Investment towards the future; Towards the implementation of new generation ODA. Accordingly, large Japanese corporations and enterprises expressed their pleasure in attending the seminar with the Prime Minister and Vietnamese ministries and branches; assessed the bright prospects of the increasingly developing Vietnamese economy; highly appreciated the increasingly improved investment and business environment in Vietnam and its status as an attractive investment destination in the world, especially for Japanese enterprises...; at the same time, recommended that the Vietnamese Government, ministries and branches pay attention to and remove some difficulties and obstacles, thereby promoting the strong development of Vietnam-Japan economic, trade and investment relations in depth and substance.
At the Seminar, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki emphasized the participation of many Japanese enterprises with the desire and enthusiasm to increase investment and trade with Vietnam; enterprises all expect the development of the Vietnamese economy in the coming time; the Ambassador personally wishes to listen to the opinions of Japanese enterprises, thereby improving the investment and business environment in Vietnam. This contributes to the development of the Vietnamese economy.
The Ambassador said that currently, the total investment capital of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam has exceeded 77 billion USD; bilateral trade turnover has increased sharply, reaching 54 billion USD last year. Vietnam is heading towards a new era - the era of national development.
The Ambassador believes that the results of simplifying administrative procedures and speeding up decisions to improve the investment environment by the Vietnamese Government will help increase Japanese investment, becoming an opportunity to develop Vietnam-Japan relations.
The Ambassador expressed that the two countries have made efforts to put the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien Metro Line No. 1 (Ho Chi Minh City) into operation, becoming a symbol of the bilateral relationship. Japanese stakeholders were delighted to see the project being well received by the people of Ho Chi Minh City. This is an important factor in promoting the development of the urban transport network, connecting neighboring localities of Ho Chi Minh City.
Solving these issues is important for the investment awareness of Japanese enterprises. When the Vietnamese Government is willing to resolve these issues, it will help expand the scale of ODA cooperation, investment, especially promoting digital transformation, green transformation, building transport and energy infrastructure including nuclear power projects, etc., which will be a catalyst for Vietnam to rise up in the new era.
Speaking, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highly appreciated the participation of leading Japanese corporations and enterprises in the Dialogue, demonstrating the sincerity, affection, trust between the two sides, and responsible and effective efforts. "We expressed ourselves frankly, discussed all difficulties and shortcomings, and the parties must be responsible for handling them together with the spirit of valuing time, intelligence, and determination," the Prime Minister said.
Regarding the issue of streamlining the organizational apparatus of Vietnam raised by the Japanese side, the Prime Minister emphasized that Vietnam is actively implementing this process. From March 1, new ministries will officially operate, ensuring increased effectiveness, efficiency, and efficiency; a spirit of greater decentralization and delegation of power, reducing administrative procedures, and removing difficulties that mechanisms, policies, and institutions are still facing. The ultimate goal is to create convenience and efficiency for people and businesses, reduce compliance costs, reduce input costs, improve labor productivity, and enhance smart governance for more effective production and business. The operation process may also have problems, so the Prime Minister hopes that Japanese businesses will report to the authorities.
The reform of the apparatus needs to be carried out more extensively from now until 2026, with the spirit of "where there are problems, there must be solutions, at which level the problems must be solved, and if beyond authority, it must be reported to the competent authority". The Government affirms its determination to reduce administrative procedures, reduce negativity, and eliminate the request-grant mechanism, so as not to affect business operations.
Regarding the resolution of the Japanese side's difficulties in Ho Chi Minh City, the Prime Minister assigned the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to preside over the resolution of the Japanese side's difficulties from now until April 30, 2025. The Prime Minister emphasized the principle of resolving disputes: what is real, nothing cannot be resolved, what is intangible, try to quantify in the spirit of trust, openness, and transparency. When resolving, there must be no bureaucracy, harmonize interests, share risks, and cooperate with each other to handle. I hope the Japanese side will provide sufficient convincing documents for the two sides to sit down together. Ho Chi Minh City has enough tools to proactively resolve.
The Prime Minister stated that Vietnam and Japan value trust, sincerity, and the core values of the two nations in supporting development in the spirit of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; for the overall benefit to quickly resolve the issue. The Prime Minister stated that Ho Chi Minh City already has a very well-operated and effective urban railway, so we must use the overall results to resolve the small issues.
Regarding the situation in Vietnam, the Prime Minister stated that in the context of many difficulties in 2024, Vietnam has overcome them, maintained macroeconomic stability, controlled inflation, ensured major balances, promoted growth; stabilized the monetary market, interest rates, and met the labor market; the investment and business environment has been increasingly improved, attracting more and more FDI capital, and the disbursement rate of FDI capital is also very high.
The Prime Minister affirmed that this common success has the help of international friends, including Japan, the third largest investor and trade partner in Vietnam. However, there is still a lot of room for development, over 60% of businesses are optimistic about this market; notably, Japanese businesses focus on processing, manufacturing, and consumer services.
On behalf of the Vietnamese Government, the Prime Minister thanked the Japanese Government, the Japanese Ambassador, and Japanese businesses for sharing the hardships to promote the development of bilateral relations, contributing to Vietnam's economic growth in 2024. The two sides still have problems raised at this Dialogue, so they will have to be determined to resolve them.
The Prime Minister stated that Japan has contributed to the development of e-Government in Vietnam, thanks to which many indicators evaluated by international organizations have improved.
However, the Prime Minister pointed out that there are still many outstanding issues that need to be resolved. Both sides need to stay calm to resolve them. The Vietnamese Government has assigned responsibilities for resolution; we hope that all parties will resolve them in the spirit of doing what they say and doing what they commit to.
Regarding the target, the Prime Minister stated that Vietnam prioritizes growth, specifically 8% growth this year, with double-digit growth in the following years. To do so, Vietnam focuses on three strategic breakthroughs, namely institutional breakthroughs, which are "bottlenecks of bottlenecks" to reduce compliance costs for people and businesses, reduce travel, apply digital transformation, reduce other costs, increase decentralization, eliminate the request-grant mechanism; strengthen organizational reform, reduce intermediaries, and reduce petty corruption. It is necessary to build open institutions to serve people and businesses, with the State playing a creative role.
Breakthroughs in infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure, digital infrastructure, healthcare, culture, education, sports, etc. to reduce input costs for businesses, create new development space, increase land prices, reduce logistics costs, and increase the competitiveness of goods. Build high-quality human resources, smart management, improve workers' skills and abilities, meet development requirements, bring high labor productivity and skills, and improve business efficiency. Vietnam is striving to reduce 30% of administrative procedures.
Regarding JICA projects and other projects, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Finance to urgently coordinate with the Ministry of Justice to review procedures and processes, amend relevant Decrees, especially amend the Decree on tax on non-refundable aid, this issue must be done in March.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naokia, leaders of Japanese corporations (Photo: TRAN HAI).
The Prime Minister asked Japanese enterprises to exploit the vast potential of the two countries' economic, trade and investment relations, contributing to promoting the two countries' relations to a new height of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; hoping that Japan in general and Japanese enterprises in particular will support, respond to and assist Vietnam in promoting 8% growth by 2025 and the following years.
Vietnam hopes that Japanese enterprises with their experience, resources, and prestige will support Vietnam in accessing investment sources, green finance, the Asian Zero Emission Community (AZEC) program, the Japanese Government's innovation and digital transformation fund; promoting multi-billion-dollar energy projects; with the policy of selective cooperation in attracting foreign investment, aiming for quality and environmental protection; developing green economy, digital economy, circular economy, digital economy, knowledge economy, based on science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation in the spirit of Resolution 57-NQ/TW.
Taking advantage of the strengths of semiconductor chip production, renewable energy, hydrogen, supporting Vietnam in developing financial centers; bio-industry, developing the Internet of Things, cloud computing, quantum optics, new materials, developing high-tech agriculture, especially in the Mekong Delta. The two sides continue to strengthen cooperation to consolidate supply chains, develop supporting industries, build a highly skilled workforce for the benefit of both sides in a diverse and sustainable manner. The Japanese government and enterprises are interested in quickly implementing key projects, especially high-tech projects that are meaningful and symbolic of the relationship between the two countries, such as satellite launch projects. Japanese investors support and create conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to participate in Japan's global supply chain and value chain, diversifying supply chains and value chains. Strengthening new-generation ODA cooperation in the direction of expanding scale, reducing procedures with more favorable conditions for faster disbursement.
Vietnam hopes that Japanese enterprises will make faster decisions and coordinate with Vietnamese enterprises to harmonize the institutions of the two countries. The Vietnamese Government is committed to always protecting the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises in general, including Japanese enterprises; ensuring that the private economy is an important driving force for the economy in the current period. Ensuring political stability, social order and safety, and policy stability for enterprises to invest long-term, have strategic plans with foresight, think deeply, and do big things; hoping that Japanese enterprises will consider Vietnam as a stronghold, an important link in the supply chain, contributing to long-term development.
The Prime Minister emphasized the spirit of harmonious interests, shared risks; listening, understanding, always sharing vision and action to work together, win together, and develop together.
Mai Huong
Source: https://baohanam.com.vn/chinh-tri/chan-thanh-tin-cay-thuc-day-manh-me-quan-he-kinh-te-thuong-mai-va-dau-tu-nhat-ban-viet-nam-149202.html
Comment (0)