Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung October 22 concluded his five-day working visit to Japan, which has marked a milestone and brought the bilateral, all-round cooperation relations to a new height, state media reported on October 23.
“This is the most successful working trip I have made to Japan,” Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper, noting that addressing at the Japanese parliament is PM Dung’s greatest honor and chance to call for more Japanese investment and ODA aid for the Southeast Asian country.
The Vietnamese government leader also pledged to provide better incentives for Japanese investors as well resolutely uproot corruption, expecting a new investment influx into Vietnam will probably emerge in the future.
During his stay in Japan, PM Dung had talks with the Speakers of the House of Representatives and the House of Counselors, delivered a speech before the Parliament, paid a courtesy visit to the Emperor and Emperess, and met former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and executives from 60 leading economic groups.
The two PMs in Tokyo October 20 signed a joint statement with participation of more than 400 entrepreneurs to adopt measures to further boost the all-faceted cooperation relations, witnessing signatories of five cooperative agreements between Vietnamese and Japanese businesses worth over $500 million, including a $50 million contract for the construction of a steel production factory by the Vietnam Steel Corporation.
Notably, the Vietnam Ministry of Planning and Investment and Japanese Sumitomo Conglomerate signed a cooperation agreement on investment promotion, under which Sumitomo proposed to invest about $1 billion into several giant projects including the construction of Van Phong seaport in central Khanh Hoa province, a power plant in Binh Thuan province and infrastructure projects in northern Vietnam.
At the seminar on investment held in Osaka October 21 by the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and the Ministry of Planning and Investment, PM Dung repeated the Vietnamese government’s pledges to create most favorable conditions for Japanese businesses, particularly businesses from Osaka prefecture, to invest and operate in Vietnam, calling on investors from Osaka and Kansai to invest in high technology, electronics and communications, oil and gas, large-scale tourism establishments, development of agricultural exports, trade and services.
Both PM Dung and Premier Shinzo Abe also agreed to start official negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries next January and the two sides are expected to complete negotiations for the agreement in 2009, which will create a new investment wave and further boost trade cooperation, increasing two-way trade turnover to $15 billion in 2010 from $8.5 billion last year.
In the January-September period, the two-way trade between Vietnam and Japan reached $7.2 billion, up 23.5 per cent on year and is expected to reach $10 billion this year, up 19.7 per cent over last year. Japanese exports to Vietnam last year totaled $3.3 billion, while imports touched $4.2 billion, according to the Foreign Ministry.
Japan is now Vietnam’s second largest importer after the United States, according to Japan Foreign Ministry data, and the fourth-largest exporter to Vietnam after China, Singapore and Taiwan.
Japan, as the third-largest foreign investor in Vietnam after Singapore and Taiwan, has 677 valid investment projects there, mainly industrial, with total registered capital of $6.8 billion. Japan is taking the lead in terms of capital disbursement, with nearly $4.7 billion implemented. A major share of Japanese investment in Vietnam is in industry, with 85 per cent of total registered capital. The remainder is in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and services.
With $11 billion pledged for the 1992-2005 period, or about a third of total international aid to the country during that period, Japan is the largest official development assistance donor to Vietnam.
(Source: Local news agencies)
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