HCM City (VNA) – A Ho Chi Minh City leader hasexpressed his hope that Japanese businesses will continue to see the city as anattractive investment destination that brings interests to both sides.

Standing Vice Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem madethe wish while chairing a roundtable between the city administration and theJapanese business community on December 18.

HCM City has always taken on board suggestions from foreign businesses,including Japanese, for improving its investment environment and livingconditions and adopting appropriate policies to enable foreign investors tooperate here, he said.

According to Liem, Japan is one of the city’s important partners in severalfields. As of last November, it was the fifth largest foreign investor in thecity with 1,247 ongoing projects worth a total of nearly 4.2 billion USD.

“Thisfigure is very impressive but still not commensurate with the potential andstrategic partnership of the two countries,” he noted.

The roundtable has been held annually for the past 17 years to facilitatedirect dialogue between Japanese entrepreneurs and city authorities, atestament to the city’s desire to resolve difficulties faced by foreigninvestors in general and Japanese firms in particular, he said.

Theresults of the roundtable and efforts to improve the investment climate by thecity would “enhance the confidence of the Japanese business community inthe city administration.”

TakahisaOnose, chief of the finance-tax and customs committee at the Japanese Chamberof Commerce and Industry in HCM City (JCCH), said the city had made significantimprovements in customs and tax procedures, helping businesses save cost andtime.

At adialogue between the JCCH and the city customs department last month, the headof the latter presented new policies and promised to further simplify customsprocedures, he said.

Pham Thiet Hoa, Director of the Investment and Trade Promotion of HCM City(ITPC), said to prepare for the event, the ITPC had been working with the JCCHsince June to find out what difficulties Japanese firms face.

The roundtable organisers gathered 38 questions related to four fields:environment - life; law - labour; tax; and customs. Between October 29 and November1, the ITPC coordinated with 19 departments and agencies and held meetings withthe JCCH to answer 34 of the questions.

The remaining relate to a decree guiding the EnvironmentalLaw, water quality audit, noise pollution, and social insurance for foreignworkers, and would be clarified at the roundtable, Hoa said.

Kawaue Junichi, JapaneseConsul General to HCM City, appreciated the city’s efforts to improveits investment environment.

With its consistent politics, abundant human resources and improvinginfrastructure, Vietnam had attracted more and more Japanese investors who areinvesting in various sectors, he said.-VNA