Speaking at Japan ICT Day celebrated in HCM City on Wednesday, Nguyen Doan Hung, VJC's chairman, said Viet Nam and Japan have had fruitful co-operation in the IT sector in recent years.— Photo citinews

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Japanese information technology firms want to strengthen co-operation with their Vietnamese counterparts, especially to develop applications for social infrastructure and offshore business, according to the Viet Nam-Japan IT Cooperation Club (VJC).

Speaking at Japan ICT Day celebrated in HCM City on Wednesday, Nguyen Doan Hung, VJC's chairman, said Viet Nam and Japan have had fruitful co-operation in the IT sector in recent years.

Kazunori Hamano, vice chairman & chairman of the International Committee, Japan Information Technology Services Association (JISA), said Viet Nam had been the preferred partner for Japanese firms in the last decade due to its competitive prices and good quality.

According to surveys by the Viet Nam Software and IT Services Association (VINASA) and VJC, Vietnamese firms that do business with Japanese partners all enjoy good growth, averaging 77 per cent, and some even 300-400 per cent.

They mainly co-operate in software and services outsourcing, BPO (business process outsourcing), mobile application development, and cloud computing. The number of Vietnamese engineers working for Japanese IT projects in the first half of the year went up by 46.5 per cent year-on-year. JISA said Viet Nam is the second largest software outsourcing destination for Japan after China.

Hirotaka Yasuzumi, chief representative of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in HCM City, said in 2014 Japanese firms invested in 52 new IT projects in Viet Nam, accounting for 15 per cent of their total investment in the country.

Japanese firms expected to expand their investment in the IT sector in Viet Nam, especially in offshore businesses, he said.

But Viet Nam's IT human resources did not meet the expectations of Japanese firms, especially with respect to proficiency in Japanese, he said.

According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung, more than 400,000 workers work in the IT sector.

The country had made efforts to standardise its IT workforce based on international norms to meet the needs of both local and foreign enterprises, he said.

Japan was an important partner to boost the development of the country's IT sector, he said.

Japan ICT Day this year, titled "Collaboration on Internet of Things Applications for Social Infrastructure and Offshore Business," offered a good chance for businesses in the two countries to exchange information and explore co-operation in IoT, which was growing rapidly, including in Japan and Viet Nam, he said. — VNS