The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the management board of the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park last week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sending Japanese experts to improve the investment environment.
The program, valid from July 2007 to February 2, 2008, is part of JETRO's plan to help Vietnam develop the Hoa Lac Hi-tech park, one of the country's three strategic projects that Japan has pledged to provide official development assistance (ODA) for.
Under the MoU, JETRO will be a bridge for Japanese companies to invest in the park and also help the management board in attracting investment.
JETRO is also considering other forms and measures to support for the Hoa Lac Park, which is aimed to provide support facilities and human resources for promoting state-of-the-art hi-tech manufacturing and research, Kenjiro Ishiwata, Chief Representative of JETRO in Vietnam.
He also added that the organization will arrange for a delegation of representatives of 70-80 Japanese companies to visit Vietnam for market exploration at the park in November this year.
Besides the park, the Japanese government has also committed to support Vietnam in implementing projects on a North-South express railway and a North-South highway.
A series of agreements for the construction of large-scale projects in Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park were recently inked between investors and the zone authorities.
The most noteworthy is an agreement with Vietnam's largest IT firm, Finance Promotion Technology Corporation (FPT). The new deal will see FPT build a software facility and an information technology university within the compound.
The Hanoi Telecom Joint Stock Company (Hanoi Telecom) has also decided to build a new complex, including an IT research and training center.
The country's biggest shipbuilding company, Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group (Vinashin) will also invest in the science park, planning to house its national research and design lab within the complex.
When fully operational the hi-tech IZ will employ close to 50,000 workers and earn hundreds of millions of USD in export value yearly. (Investment, VNA)
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