Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien chaired a conference to disseminate the Agreement on ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP) and the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) in Ho Chi Minh City on Apr. 14.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT), Japan has been one of Vietnam’s leading economic and trade partners since the beginning of the latter’s renewal process.
Japan has been also an important market of Vietnamese exports while Vietnam has been an investment destination for many Japanese businesses. The bilateral relations have seen rapid development in all fields, following the motto “strategic partnership”.
The conference heard the MIT’s representatives talking about the VJEPA negotiations the content and roadmap of tariff reduction, opportunities and challenges for Vietnamese businesses to enter the Japanese market.
Dao Tran Nhan, deputy director of the MIT’s Asia-Pacific Department, said that in addition to seafood wood produce, garments and textiles and handicraft and fine art articles, Japan has a great demand for processed food, fresh vegetables and flowers, household appliances, plastics and software, which are Vietnam’s strengths.
Nhan shared with the participants experience in doing business with Japanese, stressing that trust and mutual understanding are decisive for successes. He also underlined the Japanese climate conditions and customers’ habits, as well as the need of making full use of support form both Vietnamese and Japanese sides.
Last year, Vietnam earned 8,5 billion USD from exports to Japan, a year-on-year increase of 37 percent, and Japan remained Vietnam’s 2nd biggest export market./.