Vietnam-Japan supporting industry exhibition to take place in September

The 2021 Vietnam-Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition (SIE) and the Vietnam Manufacturing Expo (VME) will be held from September 15-17 with both onsite at the Viet Xo (Vietnam-Russia) Friendship Cultural Palace and online via the VME website.

Reed Tradex, ASEAN leading exhibition organiser, together with the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi and the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (VIETRADE) under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoIT), have recently signed a cooperation agreement to organise the two events.

The agreement aims to promote trade relations between Vietnam and Japan in manufacturing, industrial and supporting industries, and improve the competitive strengths for  domestic manufacturing businesses to reach out to the global markets.

The year 2021 is a milestone for  domestic and international trading businesses to strongly transform with digital technology and bounce back after the COVID-19 pandemic via strategies for  optimising resources and expanding business connections.

Besides the challenges from the instability of the world economy, the effectiveness of new trade agreements such as the European Union - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and the United Kingdom - Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (UKVFTA), and policies to support and encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) from the Vietnamese government are expected to create potential investment opportunities and partnerships for  those who are ready to catch up with market trends.

More than 200 booths of exhibitors from 20 countries and territories, including Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea, China, Taiwan (China), Singapore, Thailand, Germany and Russia, are expected to take part in the two events, according to the organisers.

Products displayed at the exhibitions will comprise spare parts for  automobiles, motorbikes, machinery and equipment for  production.

VIETRADE Director  Vu Ba Phu said supporting industries play an important role, laying the foundation for  the development of a highly competitive and sustainable industry.

The MoT has been implementing many synchronous solutions to support investment development, technology application, and development of manufacturing and supporting industries, he said.

“The organisation of Vietnam - Japan Supporting Industry Exhibition by VIETRADE in collaboration with the JETRO Hanoi is a great contribution to support Vietnamese enterprises to enhance production capacity and connect with Japanese partners,” Phu said, believing that the two exhibitions will become remarkable events, actively promote investment and trade cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in supporting industries.

Takeo Nakajima, Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi, said Japan is the second biggest foreign investor  in Vietnam in terms of both number of projects and investment capital.

A JETRO survey in 2020 showed that about 50 percent of Japanese enterprises which have been investing in Vietnam answered that they wanted to “expand business activities" in the next one to two years that make Vietnam top among ASEAN countries for  investment. However, the difficulties still remain, in which one of the biggest challenges is the low rate of localisation in raw materials, supplies and components of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam (37 percent) and Japanese enterprises want to further enhance localisation activities.

He emphasised that SIE 2021 is organised with the purpose to improve the localisation rate of Japanese enterprises and increase the supply of components and industrial parts, adding that during the two previous editions held 2017 and 2019 in Hanoi, 136 Japanese and Vietnamese enterprises participated and achieved more than 8,500 trading agreements with the total value of contracts reaching 3.8 million USD.

Vu Trong Tai, General Manager of Reed Tradex Vietnam, said despite the pandemic, Vietnam continue to be recognised by major  financial institutions with positive vibes, stable evaluation as an attractive destination for  in the China 1 strategy of global enterprises. For  foreign investors, Vietnam is still a potential market with many opportunities in manufacturing and supporting industries, he added.

The two exhibitions will “double” the power of business matching to support industrial businesses with access to new technologies and expanding trading networks between domestic and foreign enterprises, especially between Japanese and Vietnamese firms, Tai said./.