Opening of the 5th Vietnam-Kansai Economic Dialogue Forum

On November 22, in Da Nang, the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment coordinated with the Kankeiren Economic Federation and the Japan Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Jetro) to organize the 5th Vietnam-Kansai Economic Dialogue Forum.

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended and delivered the opening speech at the Forum.
(Photo: Tran Le Lam/VNA)

Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai attended and delivered the opening speech at the forum.

Attending the Forum were Mr. Yasuaki Tamizaki, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam; Mr. Shosuke Mori, President of Kansai Electric Power Corporation, President of Kankeiren Region; 80 enterprises, presidents of several major universities and research institutes of the Kansai region, more than 70 investors of the Kansai region operating in Vietnam, nearly 150 enterprises of provinces and cities in the Central region and representatives of ministries and branches of Vietnam.

In his opening speech, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai emphasized that over the years, Japan has always been one of Vietnam's important partners in economic, trade and investment cooperation.

Japan is the leading ODA provider, the fourth largest foreign investment partner in Vietnam in terms of registered capital and the first in terms of implemented capital. The two countries signed the Vietnam-Japan Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (2004) and the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (2007). Notably, in December 2003, the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative on Improving the Investment Environment in Vietnam was signed, creating a foundation to promote investment cooperation between the two countries.

To date, the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative has completed three phases and is currently implementing phase four, addressing hundreds of issues, contributing to improving the investment environment in Vietnam and promoting Japanese investment in Vietnam. In the Central region, foreign direct investment is completely inadequate to the potential, available advantages and socio-economic development requirements of the region.

By the end of October 2011, the Central region attracted about 750 projects, with a total registered capital of 23.7 billion USD, of which direct investment from Japan was 71 projects, with a total registered capital of 417 million USD, accounting for only nearly 2% of Japan's investment in Vietnam. Therefore, according to Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai, Vietnam is promoting investment attraction in the Central region, with Da Nang as the gateway for the region to become a production center, participating in the global supply chain, creating added value for Vietnamese products entering the world market.

The Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that the forum is a valuable opportunity for the two countries to discuss policies, potentials and investment opportunities, and propose specific solutions to further promote investment capital sources in the East-West Economic Corridor and neighboring areas in the Central region of Vietnam in the coming time.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the forum should focus on exchanges and dialogues to help Japanese investors grasp more information, as well as have constructive comments on a number of investment policies related to infrastructure development, especially transport infrastructure for the Central region.

The forum is part of the annual economic exchange cooperation program between Vietnam and Kansai. According to the rotation plan, this year the forum was held in Da Nang city with the goal of promoting economic connectivity in the Central region - the East-West economic corridor and the Kansai region.

In particular, with the two major contents of the forum being “Vietnam-Kansai cooperation in developing Vietnam’s infrastructure in general and the East-West economic corridor in particular” and “Promoting investment by Kansai enterprises in the manufacturing industry and supporting industries, especially in the Central region of Vietnam,” the forum aims to strengthen and promote Vietnam’s central role in connecting with countries in the ASEAN region through the East-West economic corridor.

The Forum is a key national investment promotion event to increase the attraction and effective use of foreign investment capital (especially capital from Japan) in the fields of infrastructure, manufacturing industry, and supporting industry. The Forum is also an opportunity for organizations, state management agencies, investors, domestic and foreign enterprises to directly meet and exchange investment and business cooperation in areas of great interest to the region and partners.

In recent times, along with the strengthening of the national strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan, relations in many aspects, especially economic, investment and trade relations between the Kansai region and Vietnam, have been strongly expanded.

Kansai is the second largest economic, industrial and service center in Japan after the Tokyo area. The Kansai region is home to many world-famous manufacturing and service industrial corporations, headquartered in Kansai such as Panasonic, Sharp, Sanyo, Hitachi Zosen, Sumitomo Metal, Takashimaya...

In addition to world-famous corporations, a system of hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises with world-class technological potential produces components for large manufacturing corporations. In addition, the Kansai region is also famous as the center of science, technology, education and training in Japan with nearly 600 universities and research and development and training facilities.

The strong economic relations between Vietnam and Kansai in recent times not only stem from the need to attract investment and promote industrialization in Vietnam but also from the urgent needs of Japanese enterprises in general and the Kansai region in particular. Especially in the current context, the need to expand investment abroad of Kansai enterprises is very large and Vietnam is one of the destinations with many advantages and potential.

Immediately after the opening session, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai chaired the first and second working sessions of the forum with the themes "Potential and opportunities for Vietnam-Japan cooperation in developing Vietnam's infrastructure and the East-West Economic Corridor" and the theme "Vietnam-Japan cooperation in developing manufacturing and supporting industries."

The forum also spent time listening to presentations on the topic "Vietnam's economic development potential and its role in ASEAN"./.

(According to VNA)