More Japanese businesses than ever are coming to the centre for information about the country’s business climate, said Vong Sam Ang, director of the centre’s investment division.

In response to the growing interest, the centre was planning a Vietnam visit for Japanese investors next month, he told a Vietnam investment seminar co-organised by the centre and the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) in Tokyo last Thursday.

Kyoshi Ichikawa, senior advisor to the MPI, affirmed that social and political stability were a strong point of Vietnam, which helped many Japanese businesses find success in the country. Similarities in culture and religion, along with abundant, low-cost but skilled workers, outweighed the difficulties businesses faced in Vietnam, including cumbersome administrative procedures, Ichikawa said.

Phan Huu Thang, director of the MPI’s Foreign Investment Department assured the seminar that Vietnam was continuing to improve its legal framework and implement its WTO commitments.

The seminar would help Japanese businesses find new investment opportunities in Vietnam even at a time when the Japanese economy was facing difficulties, Thang added.