A forum on promoting Vietnam-Japan trade and investment in the Kansai region took place in Osaka prefecture on September 15, attracting representatives from over 200 Vietnamese and Japanese businesses.

Representatives of Vietnam's Dien Bien, Hung Yen, Long An, Phu Tho, and Soc Trang provinces take turns answering questions from Japanese investors at the event. 

From the Vietnamese side, leaders of the provinces of Dien Bien, Phu Tho, Hung Yen, Long An, and Soc Trang attended the event, which was organised by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), Consulate General of Vietnam in Osaka, and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO).

In his speech, VCCI Vice President Hoang Quang Phong stated the forum is a venue for Vietnamese representatives to provide the Japanese business community with detailed information on the local investment attraction policies, incentives, and support, and for Japanese businesses already invested in Vietnam to share their experiences and lessons with startups.

Phong expressed his confidence that with the two governments’ determination and their relevant agencies’ close cooperation, the countries’ economic, trade, and investment cooperation will continue to develop, bringing tangible benefits to their business communities.

For his part, Torii Shingo, Chairperson of the OCCI, said he hopes to welcome representatives from Vietnamese localities and businesses to participate in the World Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, themed “Designing Future Society for Our Lives."

At the forum, speakers discussed a series of topics including trends and investment needs of Japanese businesses in Vietnam in the near future, Vietnam’s economic situation, and information on the participating Vietnamese provinces.

Vietnamese Consul General Ngo Trinh Ha told the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the event that the forum took place in the context of the 50th anniversary of the countries’ diplomatic relations, with commemorative activities held across various fields such as investment, trade, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges. The Consulate General pledged to continue to support the plans and collaboration between localities and businesses from both sides in the time to come.

Introducing incentives to attract investment in Dien Bien province, Mr. Tran Quoc Cuong, Secretary of the Dien Bien Provincial Party Committee, emphasized that at this forum in Osaka, Dien Bien province is the northernmost locality in Vietnam, has great potential for mineral spring tourism, historical tourism, and investment in developing agricultural and medicinal plants.

Besides, Dien Bien province also has a convenient transportation system, connecting the East-West corridor between the northern localities of Vietnam to Northern Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and Yunnan province (China).

In the context that Dien Bien is a province that does not have any Japanese businesses investing, the provincial government hopes that this will be an opportunity for the provincial government to fully introduce its potential and policies to attract investment to the Japanese side.

In particular, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan, Dien Bien province will soon organize a large-scale Cherry Blossom Festival in the historical city of Dien Bien Phu.

Thereby, the province hopes to achieve similar feats in socio-economic development, including contributions from Japanese investors and businesses.

In recent years, the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and the Kansai region has developed rapidly and brought practical results in many fields such as investment, trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges.

Trade between Kansai and Vietnam hit US$12 billion in 2022, up 24.2% year-on-year. As of the end of 2022, the region invested in approximately 850 projects worth over US$9 billion in Vietnam. Currently, there are approximately 90,000 Vietnamese people living, studying, and working in Kansai.

Source: Vietnam News Agency