(VOVworld) - Japanese enterprises continue to consider Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City in particular, as a destination with numerous prospects for investment and business, an annual forum promoting Vietnam-Japan trade and investment ties in HCM City heard on Friday. Analyzing future potential for bilateral co-operation, the senior Managing Director of Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation, Satoshi Mukuta, said that Vietnam is Japan’s gateway to ASEAN with its fast economic growth. He said Vietnam plays an increasingly important role as a business base in Japan’s global supply chain strategy, especially as the ASEAN Community will be formed later this year. Mukuta added that HCM City has been Japan’s largest investment destination in Vietnam and that two-way trade had reached nearly 3 billion USD in the first half of 2015. Japan is currently the sixth largest foreign investor in HCM City.