Enhancing Nghe An - Japan cooperation

(Baonghean.vn)- Nghe An wishes to further promote the friendly cooperative relationship with Japan, contributing to raising the Nghe An - Japan relationship to a new height.

On the afternoon of September 7, Mr. Kunio Umeda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam and his wife paid a courtesy visit to the leaders of Nghe An province. Welcoming and working with the Ambassador were Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation; Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of provincial departments, branches and sectors.

At the meeting, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh quickly informed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam about the socio-economic development results in the first months of 2017.

Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh and Mr. Kunio Umeda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam exchanged information on the cooperation situation between Nghe An and Japan. Photo: Thanh Le

The Provincial Party Secretary emphasized that Nghe An province and Japan have a traditional friendly cooperative relationship. The province established a friendly relationship with Gifu province (Japan) in November 2015. The two provinces have actively implemented exchange and cooperation activities in various fields. Nghe An province organized a seminar on investment - tourism - trade promotion in Gifu province. Vinh city has established a friendly cooperative relationship with Kasumigaura city, Irabaki province.

Regarding investment cooperation, Japanese partners are considered by Nghe An province as one of the traditional and important partners. Currently, there are 8 projects with Japanese investment capital in Nghe An province with a total investment capital of 95.28 million USD in the fields of limestone mining, food, garment... In addition, Kobe Steel Corporation (Japan) with a steel factory project with an investment value of 1 billion USD in Nghe An. However, this project is currently behind schedule due to waiting for the main source of raw materials from Thach Khe Iron Mine Factory (Ha Tinh) which has not been implemented.

Japan has funded Nghe An with a total capital of up to 6,172.087 billion VND (ODA capital funded by JICA is 5,070.39 billion VND). Including some typical projects such as: Project "Restoration and upgrading of the Northern Nghe An irrigation system"; Project for sustainable restoration of protective forests in Nghe An province (JICA 2)...

At the end of 2016, Nghe An province also received a composite-hulled rescue boat sponsored by the International Small Vessel Recycle Project. Following that, the organization also proposed to continue to provide 30 ships of various types to exploit the river/sea economy for Nghe An province.

In the field of education, training and labor export, in 2016, Nghe An province had 244 students studying abroad in Japan and 1,252 workers working in Japan.

Employers highly appreciate the working spirit, sense of discipline, working style and efficiency of Nghe An workers working in Japan. However, besides the strengths, there are still some weaknesses such as low awareness of workers and illegal activities.

Working session scene. Photo: Thanh Le

In the coming time, Nghe An province commits to assigning sectors to strengthen the management of labor export as well as studying abroad in Japan to build a good image of Nghe An workers in Japan and at the same time promote growth in this field.

Currently, Nghe An province focuses on promoting and calling for Japanese investors to invest in the fields of: Clean agriculture; medicinal herbs, coffee, rubber, tea in the direction of intensive farming, improving product quality; attracting projects to build meat processing plants (beef, pork and poultry) and animal feed production plants associated with industry serving livestock farming in the province...

The province hopes to have many investors in the high-tech industrial sector, providing for the mechanical assembly industry, electricity - electronics, information technology, automobiles, petrochemical industry, thermal power; mechanical engineering, production of high-grade cement and tile construction materials; production of new materials... Nghe An is always open, welcoming and has many preferential policies for Japanese investors.

Nghe An hopes Japan will support the construction of a breakwater at Cua Lo deep-water port, the upgrading of Vinh airport, the Hanoi - Vientiane expressway project, etc.

The Embassy of Japan presented souvenirs to leaders of Nghe An province. Photo: Thanh Le

The Provincial Party Secretary informed that 2018 is the year of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, there will be many commemorative activities taking place across the country, Nghe An province will coordinate to organize many activities to honor this meaningful event. On this occasion, he suggested that the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam consider organizing the Japan Cultural Day event in Nghe An to further strengthen the good relationship between the two sides.

The Provincial Party Secretary proposed to the Ambassador that on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of patriot Phan Boi Chau, the province will organize many commemorative activities. He hopes to call for support from Japanese enterprises to invest in building the Phan Boi Chau Relic Site.

Nghe An has a famous high school in the country named Phan Boi Chau High School, which has trained many excellent students who have won national and international awards and are among the top in Vietnam. We hope that the Ambassador will volunteer to train Japanese for teachers and students of Phan Boi Chau School; establish student exchanges between Japanese schools and Phan Boi Chau High School; and continue to support the implementation of Jica's support programs in Nghe An.

The Japanese Embassy took a souvenir photo with provincial leaders. Photo: Thanh Le

Expressing his gratitude to the Ambassador, his wife and the members of the delegation for spending their precious time visiting Nghe An province, Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh hoped that the Ambassador's visit this time would further promote the relationship between the two sides, contributing to raising the level of friendly cooperation between Nghe An and Japan.

On behalf of the delegation, His Excellency Kunio Umeda, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam, thanked the provincial leaders for their warm welcome. The Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Vietnam highly appreciated the achievements of Nghe An province in developing the province's potential strengths, and shared about the country and people of Japan.

The Ambassador emphasized that in his position, he will first of all act as a bridge to promote cooperation on issues of concern to both sides, especially sharing cooperation opportunities between Nghe An province in education and training, studying abroad in Japan and connecting Japanese businesses and localities to promote investment in Nghe An.

Thanh Le