日本進軍越南零售業

Last month the NHK News on-line reported the following:

外資系の小売業の出店に規制を設けているベトナムと、その撤廃を求める日本との間の初めての政府間協議が２１日、ハノイで開かれ、ベトナム側は規制の撤廃には応じないとしながらも、出店手続きの簡素化などで協力する姿勢を示し、今後も協議を続けることになりました。

およそ９０００万人の人口を抱えるベトナムは、アジアでも有望な消費市場として日本のスーパーやコンビニチェーンなども関心を高めていますが、ベトナム政府は地元の業者を保護するためとして、外資系の小売業の出店に規制を設けています。
日本政府は、この規制の撤廃を求めており、経済産業省の審議官らが２１日、ハノイを訪問し、ベトナム商工省との間で、初めての局長級の協議を行いました。
この中で日本側は、外資系スーパーなどの２店目以降の出店にあたって、予定地周辺の既存の小売店の数や人口密度などから地元経済への影響を割り出し、許可するかどうかを決めるとしているベトナム政府の審査基準について、根拠となる数値などが不明確だと指摘しました。
これに対し、ベトナム側は規制の撤廃には応じないとしながらも、基準の明確化や手続きの簡素化などの点で、可能なかぎり日本の要望に応えていきたいと回答したということです。
そのうえで、双方は今後も年１回のペースで協議を続けることになりました。

(試譯文)

On the 21^st (December) the first Intergovernmental Conference was opened in Hanoi between Vietnam which was setting regulations over the opening of shops in foreign-affiliated retail trade, and Japan which was asking for the abolition; although giving no reply to regulation abolition, the Vietnam’s side showed a cooperating posture in simplifying the opening-a-shop procedure etc. and to continue with the negotiation.

Vietnam had a population of about 90 million and was being a promising consumer market in Asia, as such Japan’s supermarkets and convenience chain stores etc were expressing their concern. Vietnam government was prepared to regulate the opening of shops in foreign-affiliated retail trade in order to protect local traders.

The Japanese government was asking for the abolition of the regulation, the commissioners from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry had visited Hanoi on the 21st to discuss, for the first time, with Vietnam’s commerce-and-industry ministry at the bureau chief level.

In this, the Japan side was pointing out that there was an unclear definition on how the screening criterion was used. For the opening of a shop such as a foreign-affiliated company supermarket after the 2nd shop had opened, the Vietnam government used the numerical value etc to form the base of an indicator: such as the number of existing retail shops and the population density around the planned site to deduce the influence on the local economy, then it would decide whether to give the permission.

Although giving no response to the abolition of regulation, on the other hand, it was said that on the points such as clarification of the standard and the simplification of procedures, Vietnam had replied that it would like to meet Japan's request as far as possible.

Furthermore, both sides would continue their deliberations at a pace of once a year.

It seems that Japan is eager to expand its overseas trading markets in South-east Asian countries.