"Despite difficulties in sourcing raw materials, Viet Nam overall remains an attractive destination for Japanese investors". — Photo dddn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) —Viet Nam should focus on training human resources, especially in technical skills, to achieve its goal of industrialising by 2020, a Thai entrepreneur has said.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Manufacturing Expo — ASEAN's largest of its kind — held in Bangkok from June 19 to 22, Viroj Sirithanasart, president of the Thai Alliance for Supporting Industries Association, said Viet Nam can learn from the success of countries like Japan and Thailand in developing their industrial sector.

It could invite foreign experts to help train human resources or send leading engineers to other countries for on-the-job training so that they could come back and train other technical personnel, he said, pointing out that this was how Thailand did it.

He said Thai and Vietnamese companies and organisations could work together to improve the skills of Vietnamese workers.

Suttisak Wilanan, project director of Thai Reed Tradex Company, the event organiser, said Vietnamese companies should invest more in modern technologies to improve their competitiveness and develop the country's industrial sector.

Exhibition and trade shows should be seen as opportunities for Vietnamese producers to update their technologies and managerial capacity to sharpen their competitive edge, he said.

Boonlert Chodchoy, managing director of Thai company C.C.Autopart Co., Ltd, said the emergence of Viet Nam's industrial sector offered investment opportunities for foreign investors, especially small and medium-sized ones.

Besides Japanese and Korean investors, more and more Thai enterprises were also looking for opportunities to invest in Viet Nam, he said.

The abundant labour force and policies to boost the industrial sector were also among factors attracting Thai companies, he said.

His company would take part in Metalex Viet Nam, an exhibition of machine tools and metalworking technologies and assembly, to be held in HCM City in October to look for local business partners, he said.

Masashito Kishi, general director of Sansei Industry Viet Nam Co., Ltd based in the Amata Industrial Park in Dong Nai Province, said besides abundant human resources and low labour costs, skilled, friendly, and hardworking labour were among the factors that persuaded his company to invest in Viet Nam.

Despite difficulties in sourcing raw materials, Viet Nam overall remains an attractive destination for Japanese investors, he said. — VNS