On July 3, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended the Economic Forum of the five Mekong Subregion (GMS) nations together with GMS leaders and approximately 200 Japanese business representatives.

The forum is seen as a venue for GMS business representatives to exchange with their Japanese counterparts about the development potential and investment and business prospects in the Mekong sub-region.

Participants said after 6 years of establishment and development, Mekong – Japan cooperation has greatly contributed to the Mekong sub-region’s socio economic development, principally to infrastructure development, transportation and logistics services thus having turned the sub-region into an attractive investment destination.

The Mekong Sub-region is considered a priority market of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO). At the forum, the JETRO President said the organization has opened representative offices in 6 GMS countries over the past three years (2012- 2015) and as many as 1,000 Japanese businesses have registered for a membership of the Association of  Japanese Enterprises in the Mekong region.

Last year, Japanese direct investment into the Mekong region reached US$6.8 billion, equivalent to Japan's investment level in China.

In his speech at the forum, PM Nguyen Tan Dung highlighted Vietnam’s tremendous achievements in socio economic development over recent years, especially its efforts to maintain economic growth and macroeconomic stability, fine-tune the market economy, develop human resources, improve infrastructure facilities and promote international integration. With the above mentioned advantages, Dung said Vietnam boasts huge potential for higher growth in the future, bringing new opportunities to Japanese businesses.

He reiterated the Vietnam Government’s willingness to create the best possible conditions for foreign investors’ business activities in the country.

VOV