Prime Minister Ishiba’s Address at the Japan-Vietnam Cooperation Forum on Creating High-Value-Added Industries in High-Tech, Green Transformation (GX), and Semiconductor Industries

I am the Prime Minister of Japan. I will do my best to conclude my remarks before the chime sounds, but I kindly ask for your understanding should I exceed the allotted time.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, distinguished guests, thank you very much for inviting me here today.

In the 1990s, Japanese manufacturers expanded their operations into Vietnam, playing a key role in driving the country’s economic growth. Vietnam’s growing market of 100 million people and its highly skilled and abundant workforce make it attractive as a promising destination for investment. Just yesterday, I visited the Thang Long Industrial Park and saw firsthand how Japanese companies are working closely with local businesses.

Uncertainty in the global economy is increasing. For Japan and Vietnam, which are closely connected through supply chains, this situation can also be seen as an opportunity to collaborate and work together to strengthen our industries.

Enhancing the sophistication of Vietnam’s industries while bolstering their resilience to external shocks will be beneficial for both our countries. Public and private sector entities will work in concert to take on the challenge of boosting industrial sophistication, which will include human resource development and decarbonization.

This is fully aligned with the direction of the "New Era" set forth by General Secretary To Lam. I welcome Vietnam’s emphasis on high-value-added industries in order to advance industrialization and modernization further, alongside reforms being promoted by Prime Minister Chinh aiming at more rational and practical policy administration.

Building on this understanding, during the summit meeting we held earlier, Prime Minister Chinh and I agreed to upgrade our bilateral economic relationship within the Japan-Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

I would like to highlight a few initiatives now underway between Japan and Vietnam. One is a push to cultivate human resources in the semiconductor field, a priority field for Vietnam. Preparations are underway to establish a "Semiconductor Chip Technology Engineer Program" at Vietnam-Japan University, a university which is itself a symbolic cooperation project between our countries.

We will intensify our exchange of next-generation human resources in fields such as advanced science and technology, including by accepting approximately 250 Vietnamese students for doctoral programs in semiconductor-related fields. That number is half of Vietnam’s national target for fostering doctoral students in this area.

We will also work to expand investment aimed at making industries more sophisticated. In the future, we will provide assistance for decarbonizing industrial parks in Vietnam and for constructing factories for polycrystalline silicon, which is essential for the semiconductor supply chain.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Finance's National Innovation Center (NIC), we are pushing forward in matching startups with leading companies from both countries, with positive results already beginning to emerge.

Recently we started providing support to build up the NIC’s functions to better enable it to address social challenges and increase industrial competitiveness through support for Vietnam’s startup policies. We will also work in cooperation with UNDP, a United Nations agency, towards that end.

Furthermore, as part of our bilateral cooperation on decarbonization and energy, projects in areas such as offshore wind power, grid infrastructure development, and biomass are currently underway. We will implement these projects in a steady manner and work with Vietnam, an AZEC partner, to lead Asia's energy transition.

Today, after hearing about the activities of many private-sector companies, I am once again convinced that the potential of Japan-Vietnam cooperation has no limits. By making our collaboration, including public-private partnerships, even more multilayered, we aim to work together to build a stronger relationship that benefits both Japan and Vietnam. To all the Japanese companies actively operating in Vietnam, the Government of Japan is committed to working together with the Government of Vietnam to support your activities. I am firmly convinced that the relationship between Japan and Vietnam will play an even greater role in the development of our region, the world, and our two nations. With that hope, I would like to conclude my remarks by extending my sincere wishes for further development in all those realms. Thank you.