State visit reinforces Vietnamese-Japanese ties

President Tran Dai Quang visits Koganei Seiki Company Ltd. in Gunma prefecture specialising in manufacturing aircrafts and formula one cars. Photo: VNA/VNS

During this state visit, President Tran Dai Quang met with leaders of big Japanese corporations, members of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), and the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) to discuss solutions and share some concepts on new economic co-operation measures.

These aim to further tighten economic ties, promote exchanges between the businesses of the two countries, and promote Vietnam-Japan economic cooperation with new developments, according to chinhphu.vn.

Deals worth around $1 billion were expected between firms, with Japanese enterprises boosting their investment in Vietnam in the sectors of retail, supporting industries, infrastructure, electricity distribution, and smart equipment production.

Gunma, home to about 7,000 Vietnamese students and workers, was President Tran Dai Quang and the delegation’s first stop during the visit. The president called on Gunma to enhance co-operation with Vietnamese localities in order to effectively utilise the potentials of both sides by increasing people-to-people exchanges and stepping up collaboration in tourism and investment, especially in high-tech agriculture, farm produce processing and preservation, and the manufacturing and supporting industries.

There are 12 businesses from Gunma prefecture investing in Vietnam, and nearly 40 enterprises are planning to invest in the time to come. Gunma prefecture wants to receive more highly-skilled Vietnamese workers and trainees, said governor Osawa Masaaki.

Many local firms expressed their wish to increase educational co-operation with Vietnam, particularly with Vietnamese universities, to create qualified human resources, thus meeting the co-operation needs between Vietnamese and Japanese localities.

Quang Tri province signing a co-operation agreement with ISE Food INC.

The first document inked was a co-operation agreement between the Vietnamese central province of Quang Tri and Japan's largest egg producer ISE Food INC. In addition to egg production, the two sides will invest in high-tech breeding, renewable energy, and food processing.

During the state visit of President Quang, the two countries are also likely to ink a new agreement on Official Development Assistance (ODA) under which Japan expects to provide Vietnam an additional $200 million to implement environmental projects. Besides, two agreements on Japan granting Vietnam a non-refundable sum of $30 million are expected to be clinched to implement projects on human resources training.

Japan has taken the lead among nations and territories investing in Vietnam with $9.11 billion. As of March 2018, Japan has poured $49.839 billion in 3,693 valid foreign invested projects in Vietnam, ranking second.

Japan is also the largest ODA provider for Vietnam, focusing on areas like infrastructure, competitiveness enhancement, high-quality human resources training, and climate change adaption.