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Japanese expanding in
Vietnam
HANOI - Japanese
businesses have invested US$379 million in
projects in Vietnam so far this year, one third of
the total money pumped into operational
foreign-invested companies during the period.
Three companies, Nidec, Honda and Canon,
contributed more than half of that investment.
Nidec has poured $100 million into three
factories in Vietnam over the past 10 years. At a
recent ground-breaking ceremony for its third
factory in Ho Chi Minh City, Nidec's Vietnam
director Kinihiko Nishihara said the company
planned to increase its investment to $500 million
four years after the third factory begin
operations.
Meanwhile, encouraged by the
success of its motorbike business in Vietnam,
Honda invested $58 million more to build a car
factory with a capacity of 10,000 units a year.
In April, Canon began work on the
construction of a $50 million laser printer
factory in the northern province of Bac Ninh.
The move prompted many Canon satellite
companies in Japan, Taiwan and China to
investigate investment opportunities in the area,
and some have applied to rent land to establish
factories that would make parts for Canon.
Vietnam director Sachio Kageyama said like
many Japanese investors, Canon considers Vietnam
an attractive destination in the ASEAN region and
the company will continue to expand its presence
in the country.
Takashi Nakono, director
of the Ho Chi Minh City office of Japan External
Trade Promotion, attributed the increasing
investment to Vietnam's improved financial
environment.
Japanese investors have
poured $176 million into 45 new projects in the
past seven months, four times higher than the same
period in 2004.
Newly licensed projects
are mostly small and medium-sized hi-tech projects
such as MCC Ltd Co's project to design and produce
software in Ho Chi Minh City with modest capital
of $18,000, or a project of the Global Labo Saigon
Ltd Co to produce software capitalized at $60,000.
According to Nguyen Trung Dung, trade
counselor of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan,
Vietnam is the first choice for Japanese small and
medium businesses as their competitiveness is
limited in their homeland due to the increasingly
high labor costs.
Some major Japanese
projects are applying or waiting for licenses,
including a $1-billion project to build the Dan
Kia-Suoi Vang resort, which is wholly funded by
Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo and Limtec.
According to Nguyen Huu Thang, Head of the
department for foreign investment of the Ministry
of Planning and Investment, Vietnam needs to
remove difficulties to make the investment
environment more attractive for investors.
For Japanese investors, Vietnam will
continue to speed up the implementation of the
Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative program.
According to the latest report by the
Vietnam-Japan Committee on the Joint Initiative to
improve the business environment, Vietnam has
completed 33 out of 125 items in its action plan
and 75 others are being carried out as scheduled,
including the development of supporting industry,
and provision of support to small and medium-sized
enterprises.
(Asia Pulse/VNA) |
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