JANUARY ASIA BUSINESS OUTLOOK9AGerman business delegation, including top firms for tunnel machines, wind farms and industrial supplies, is joining President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a visit to Vietnam starting on Jan 23, as Berlin pushes its China de-risking strategy.German companies have invested over $3 billion in the Southeast Asian manufacturing hub, with automotive giant Bosch being the main investor, according to the German Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, which sees the country as an important partner in diversifying some activities from China.During the visit, Steinmeier and German labour minister Hubertus Heil are expected to sign with their Vietnamese counterparts a memorandum of understand-ing on skilled labour mobility to facilitate transfers of Vietnamese workers to Germany.Among the companies participating in the business mission is Herrenknecht, which dominates the global market for tunnel boring machines. It is already selling tools for the building of the metro in Ho Chi Minh City amid Vietnam's plans to expand its railway and metro systems.Wind farm developer PNE AG is also part of the delegation, possibly trying to tap into Vietnam's planned expansion in the offshore wind sector despite regulatory delays. Building materials multinational Knauf Gips KG and automotive sector's supplier Tesa are among the other participants. Both already have operations in Vietnam.The visit "underlines Germany's interest in looking beyond China and diversifying its economic relations," said Florian Feyerabend, the representative in Vietnam for Germany's Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a think tank. Japanese stocks rose to new 34-year highs, and the yen held steady on January 22, as investors hoped the Bank of Japan would not rock the boat by abandoning its ultra-easy policy anytime soon, while Chinese stocks fell further after a brutal session.Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.6% to its highest level since February 1990, bringing the year-to-date gain to 9.9%. Meanwhile, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2%, but is still down more than 6% this year due to the fall in Chinese stocks.The yen remained at 148.12 per dollar, having fallen 5% this year.The BOJ is expected to retain its ultra-easy monetary settings later in the day, as policymakers assess the progress made by the economy towards meeting the conditions for phasing out the decade-long accommodative policy.None of the economists polled by Reuters expect the central bank to end its negative rate policy this time, though many see it happening in April. Governor Kazuo Ueda will hold a press conference after the decision, with traders focusing on the inflation outlook and any signs of imminent policy change."The market will probably be disappointed again because we don't believe that Ueda will give a clear signal of policy normalisation in the near future," said Robert Carnell, regional head of research, Asia-Pacific, at ING. NEWSROOMGERMANY TO IMPORT SKILLED LABOUR FROM VIETNAM AS PART OF DE-RISKING STRATEGYJAPANESE SHARES HIT 34-YEAR HIGH AS YEN STABILIZES
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