EuroCham Chairman Bruno Jaspert: Deep C aims to become Vietnam's first eco-industrial park

Vietnam and Japan both participate in FTAs such as CPTPP, VJEPA, and RCEP. What do you think will be the opportunities for businesses, especially businesses in EuroCham, to expand production and business activities in Vietnam?

You know, today the world is governed by the new fancy word of tariffs. Tariffs clearly have a big impact on trade. Vietnam has the record, after Singapore, for the most open economy in Asia. They have the most free trade agreements and structural partnerships across the whole region. And that means this country actually offers opportunities that other countries cannot easily offer, as it allows Japanese or European companies to start trading with significantly less paperwork than they used to in the past.

The initial idea behind this is extremely valid, even in today's harsh times, where large countries engage in trade wars with each other. Having run industrial zones for so long here, I find it very clear that trade barriers are ineffective. And in the end, the tariffs of today will become the opportunities of tomorrow. For any company considering coming to Vietnam today, it is undoubtedly a significant opportunity to be ready for production by the time the tariffs are lifted.

Mr. Bruno Jaspert, Chairman of EuroCham and General Director of Deep C.

Japanese businesses are always strong in technology and management. What do you think about the potential for cooperation between Deep C and new areas such as green transformation, circular economy, and innovation in Vietnamese localities?

As you may know, Deep C tries to be a pioneer in sustainable economic growth. We want to become the first eco-industrial park in Vietnam. And as an industrial zone, we have a lot of Japanese uh investors actually. Twenty percent of all investors in Deep C are Japanese.

We are already working on some of those topics, and Japanese companies are certainly leading-edge in some of those fields. Today, we see less investment from Japan than in the past. However, it's clear that opportunities are still available. And for Japan, I believe Vietnam is also a quite good country to invest in.

There are currently over 2,500 Japanese companies operating in Vietnam. In your opinion, what factors help Japanese businesses take root in Vietnam for a long time, and what do businesses expect from localities to secure from expanding their investment?

We understand Japanese companies quite well; they are all hardworking, and they have a lot of respect for the senior management, and they like to deliver good quality. Those same things can also be found in what Vietnamese companies or Vietnamese employees offer. I think Vietnamese people in all the countries that I've worked they are extremely loyal, hardworking, and eager to progress, and that I believe coincides very well with the Japanese mentality. How they want to lead their people, how they want to teach them, bring them up to a higher skill set. Japanese companies, undoubtedly, are in a very strong position to continue investing and attracting more investment into this country. However, there is still one thing they need to overcome, which is the current burden of insecurity. I believe Japanese companies are less risk-averse when it comes to moving on to new projects in these geopolitically challenging times.

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