The eighth Japan ICT Day took place in Hanoi on October 30, with afocus on cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in large-scaleinformation technology (IT) projects and the development of humanresources in the IT sector.

Held within theframework of the 2014 Asian-Oceania Computing Industry Organisation(ASOCIO) ICT Summit, the event attracted nearly 100 representatives from47 Japanese businesses, the biggest amount so far. It was also attendedby companies from the Republic of Korea, Israel, Malaysia andSingapore.

According to a report by Japan’sInformation-Technology Promotion Agency, Vietnam is Japan’s secondlargest ICT partner and Japanese businesses’ most favourite partner,with 31.5 percent of total votes.

In addition tocultural similarities, abundant and cheap labour also makes Vietnamattractive to Japanese investors, the report states.

Nguyen Doan Hung, head of the Vietnam-Japan Information TechnologyCooperation Club, said the Japanese Government and IT groups plan toimplement a number of large projects by 2020, requiring a large skilledworkforce. This will be a good chance for Vietnam, he added.

In order to partner with the Japanese side on big projects, JunkoKawauchi, Vice President in charge of Global Affairs of the JapanInformation Technology and Services Industry Association (JISA),stressed the need for Vietnamese businesses to increase the quality ofpersonnel and expand their scale of operations.

On October 31, Japanese businesses will visit central Da Nang city to attend a conference on Vietnam-Japan IT cooperation.-VNA