HCMC – Many Japanese companies active in Vietnam are planning to expand their operations, heard a recent meeting between the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

For their plans in the next one to two years, 60% of Japanese firms will expand in Vietnam, up 4.7 points against the previous year, said Nakajima Takeo, chief representative of JETRO Hanoi.

A mere 1.1% of Japanese companies operating in Vietnam intend to scale down or shift their activities to other countries and territories, the local media reported.

A JETRO survey on Japanese firms showed that Vietnam ranks second in terms of investment attractiveness after the United States.

Japanese firms expected their revenue to surge as the Vietnamese market is beefing up exports and seeing a rapid economic growth pace, said the representative from JETRO Hanoi.

A survey on Japanese enterprises doing business in the Asia-Pacific region conducted by JETRO in August and September 2022 showed that Vietnam’s economic growth was back on track and gained the top spot in Southeast Asia for business expansion.

Over 600 Japanese firms in Vietnam participating in the survey said they expected to scale up their Vietnam operations. Nearly 60% of these firms were predicted to be profitable in 2022.

The representative of JETRO Hanoi expected the ministry to quickly remove obstacles facing Japanese firms at meetings with these companies to encourage them to expand investment and business in Vietnam.

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that Vietnam always seeks to improve the investment climate to make life easier for foreign investors, including those from Japan, to do business in the nation.

Minister Dung also proposed JETRO help connect Japanese and Vietnamese companies to join global supply chains and encourage Japanese businesses to boost technology transfers.