Affirming the role of a bridge for cooperation between Nghe An and Japan

Japanese Ambassador presents souvenirs to provincial leaders on the occasion of his working visit to Nghe An, July 2017.

With the motto "Proactive - Flexible - Creative - Effective" in people-to-people diplomacy, the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association of Nghe An province has achieved remarkable results. In particular, the Association has established relations with 11 Japanese organizations and individuals with special, long-term and regular relationships, including the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange, the Central Representative Office of the Japan - Vietnam Friendship Association in Hanoi, the Japan - Vietnam Friendship Association of Tokyo City, the Gifu Vietnam Friendship Association, the Okayama Province Disabled People's Welfare Association, the Asaba Vietnam Association, the Japan - Vietnam Bridge Association, Sanshin JSC... Through these partners, the Association has had the opportunity to contact many businesses from Japan.

The Association has also organized many exchanges when delegations from Japan visited Nghe An, contributing to strengthening and consolidating friendly relations with Japanese organizations. Especially on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan (in 2013), the Association coordinated with the Asaba Association of Fukuroi City, the Japan Cultural Exchange Center in Vietnam to successfully organize the "Japan Cultural Week" and the Celebration with many rich and practical contents. The friendly exchange activities between Nghe An people and Japan have taken place quite actively, through the path of studying abroad, tourism, activities of NGOs, the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association, youth and student exchange programs, etc.

In 2017, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of patriotic scholar Phan Boi Chau, the Association organized friendly exchanges with 5 Japanese delegations attending the Conference and the Anniversary Ceremony, including Japanese House of Representatives member Miyazawa Hiroyuki. Organized exchanges with Asaba Association at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, screened the picture play "History of Phan Boi Chau" and introduced the country and people of Fukuroi city, Shizuoka province.

Many friendly exchange activities between Nghe An province and Japanese organizations.

At the same time, on the occasion of the high-ranking delegation of Gifu province of Japan visiting Nghe An, the Association coordinated with the Gifu - Vietnam Friendship Association to successfully organize a special art program to welcome the delegation with folk songs of Nghe Tinh - Intangible Cultural Heritage representing humanity, combined with the singing of artists from the land of cherry blossoms.

To promote the traditional and good relationship between the two sides, the Association has widely published 3 bilingual publications (Vietnamese and Japanese) to introduce and promote the image of Nghe An country and people to Japanese friends as well as the friendship between Vietnam and Japan. In particular, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Association's establishment and the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, the Association has launched the photo book "Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association of Nghe An province: 10 years of construction and development" in Vietnamese and Japanese to serve readers and the Association's propaganda activities.

In recent years, the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association of Nghe An province and its Japanese partners have exchanged delegations to visit, work and attend important events of the two countries' localities, such as the Tsukuba City Chamber of Commerce and Industry inviting the Association to attend the Grand Music Festival held in Japan with the participation of thousands of delegates and exchanges with members of the Japanese House of Representatives. These people-to-people diplomacy activities of the Association have further strengthened the friendship and cooperation with Japanese partners.

Delegations of Nghe An province visited and worked in Japan.

In political and diplomatic relations, Nghe An identifies Japan as a partner with a traditional relationship. Continuously build and make the most of the good relationship with Japan to promote economic cooperation, strengthen cooperation in education - training, science and technology.

With that perspective, the Association has played a good role as a bridge for Japanese partners to cooperate with Nghe An, such as, together with the Japan - Vietnam Bridge Association, introducing the Tsukuba Science City Chamber of Commerce and Industry to visit Vinh City. The city's Tsuchiura Kanto Shoji High-Tech Agricultural Development Company cooperated with Vinh City in building a project to produce high-quality clean vegetables in some wards and communes of the city.

At the same time, the Association and the Japan - Vietnam Bridge Association also acted as a broker for Kasumigau City, Ibaraki Prefecture to establish a cooperative relationship with Vinh City. The two sides sent mayoral delegations to visit each other. The Association also introduced the Japan - Vietnam Bridge Association JVBB to connect the Japanese JES Company to invest in a solid waste treatment project in Nghe An (this project has been granted an investment license); Tecnica Joint Stock Company invested in building an electrolyzed water production facility in Nghi Phu Industrial Park,...

During the meetings and working sessions with Japanese partners, the Association took the opportunity to promote and introduce the country, people, economic and tourism potential, and new policies and regulations on investment incentives in Nghe An as well as publish the province's publications to Japanese enterprises.

Japanese organizations and businesses survey and explore investment opportunities in Nghe An province.

With a priority policy of creating a cultural, business, investment and living environment suitable for Japanese culture, Nghe An has been attracting many Japanese enterprises. In the field of economic cooperation, Nghe An province has 9 investment projects from Japan with a total capital of 1.078 billion USD in the fields of limestone mining, food, garment, and auto parts.

Up to now, Japan has funded 44 ODA projects in Nghe An, with a total investment of up to 6,172,087 billion VND. Export turnover to Japan increased year after year. In the field of education and training, in 2016 and 2017, over 800 Nghe An students studied abroad in Japan, of which 89 went on scholarships. Every year, Nghe An province has a large number of workers working under contracts in Japan.

Thanks to the care to build good relationships with Japanese organizations and individuals, the Association has mobilized a relatively large amount of aid. Notably, the Japanese Embassy sponsored two non-refundable projects: Providing clean water in Nam Thanh commune, Nam Dan district and building 4 classrooms at Dai Son 2 Primary School, Do Luong district with a total cost of nearly 4 billion VND. In 2017, the non-profit organization International Small Vessel Recycle Project (Japan) provided Nghe An with 30 ships of various types to exploit the river/sea economy. The Okayama Prefecture Disabled People's Welfare Association sponsored 750 manual wheelchairs.

The association also mobilized its members to contribute 400 million VND to build the Phan Boi Chau Memorial Site and 10 manual wheelchairs for the disabled in Nam Dan district. Mr. Nezu Moritaka and Mr. Nezu Tenryo personally donated 60,000 Yen to the Phan Boi Chau Memorial Site and books and teaching aids for students of Nghi Truong Primary School, Nghi Loc district and Hung Hoa Primary School, Vinh city.

It can be said that over the past 45 years, overcoming many ups and downs of the times, the Vietnam - Japan relationship in general, and Nghe An - Japan in particular, have continuously blossomed, borne fruit and developed impressively. Currently, the friendship and cooperation between Nghe An and Japan is taking place vigorously and comprehensively in many fields. Nghe An has built a friendly sentiment, goodwill and a prestigious political and diplomatic cultural environment with Japan.

Japan supports many programs and projects in Nghe An.

To attract Japanese investors, the province is making efforts to improve investment attraction policies as well as improve the quality of human resources. On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan; 10 years of the establishment of the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Association of Nghe An province, in late September, a high-ranking delegation of Nghe An province led by Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Dac Vinh paid a working visit to Japan. Within the framework of the visit and work, in Tokyo, Nghe An province coordinated with the ASEAN - Japan Trade, Investment and Tourism Promotion Center to organize a conference to promote investment in Nghe An province; visited and worked with Gifu and Shizuoka provinces, etc. This visit and work aimed to promote the investment and business environment, call on Japanese enterprises to invest in Nghe An province; and answer questions of the Japanese business community when investing and doing business in Nghe An province.

Vinh City.