Local firms have requested the Japanese government to simplify visa requirements and related procedures for Vietnamese information technology (IT) engineers to go to the northeast Asian country for guest work.

The request was made at the Vietnam-Japan business forum held in Hanoi on January 17 as part of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official visit to Vietnam on Monday and Tuesday.

Hoang Nam Tien, chairman of FPT Software, said the current industrial revolution with a focus on digital transformation and internet of things requires a large number of IT engineers while Japan has fallen short of such people.

Tien said at the forum that he hoped Japan would pick Vietnam as part of its strategy for digital transformation and that Vietnamese engineers would meet requirements of the country. 

“The Japanese government is expected to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese IT experts and engineers to work in Japan, particularly in terms of visa requirements. We hope that Japan will continue supporting training for Vietnamese IT engineers and allowing more Vietnamese students to take part in internship programs there,” Tien said.

FPT inaugurated a subsidiary in Japan in 2005 and has approached 50 major IT service providers in that market including Fujitsoft, DTS and Systena. FPT Japan reported revenue of almost VND2.85 trillion (over US$125 million) last year, leaping 51% over 2015 and accounting for 47% of FPT’s total sales from foreign markets.

Vietnamese firms in other sectors are also looking to partner with Japanese companies.

Nguyen The Cuong, deputy general director of Vietnam Expressway Corporation (VEC), said the corporation is seeking to cooperate with Japanese partners in expressway construction.

Meanwhile, Vigracera manages to attract Japanese tenants to the industrial parks developed by the corporation.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the forum that Japan is Vietnam’s biggest single official development assistance (ODA) donor, second largest foreign direct investor, second largest source market for Vietnam’s tourism sector, and fourth largest trade partner.

Phuc said Vietnam expected Japanese firms to invest in sectors and projects related to green growth, industrialization, quality infrastructure development, public-private partnership, high-quality services in the financing, banking, tourism, agricultural and processing industries, and equitization of State-owned enterprises.

The Japanese PM said ASEAN is the world’s center of growth and Vietnam is part of the bloc. More than 1,600 Japanese firms are active in Vietnam.

He requested the Vietnamese government to support Japanese businesses to operate well in this growing market.

SGT