Mekong Delta localities call for Japanese investment in 63 projects

Kawaue Junichi, Consul General of Japan in HCM City addresses the forum

The event was jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Ho Chi Minh City on November 3, which gathered 400 delegates representing government agencies and localities of the two countries, Japanese trade promotion organisations, economic experts, Vietnamese companies, and 120 CEOs from Japanese firms.

Addressing the forum, former State President Truong Tan Sang affirmed the significance of the event in strengthening the economic and trade exchanges between Japan and Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, while expressing his wish that Japanese investors will pay more attention to this region.

Leaders of Mekong Delta localities should create favourable conditions for Japanese investors to implement effective and win-win cooperation in the context that the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is going to take effect with 11 member countries, including Japan and Vietnam, he emphasised.

According to VCCI Chairman, Vu Tien Loc, Japan’s investment in the Mekong Delta region remains limited despite the huge cooperation potential between the two sides.

He highlighted young and well-trained labour force and a development space for businesses as the biggest advantages offered by the Mekong Delta, stating that cooperation in agriculture, processing industry, manufacturing, tourism and commercial services are the region’s yet-to-be-exploited potential that Japan is expected to be the best partner.

As a leading country in developing adaptive agriculture to climate change, Japan’s experience will effectively serve the Mekong Delta region which is in need of an agricultural sector with climate-adaptive technologies, he said.

Kawaue Junichi, Consul General of Japan in HCM City, said together with the development of the Japan-Vietnam relations over recent years, the ties between Japan and the Mekong Delta have also been increasingly expanded across various spheres, such as transport, trade and especially farm produce.

Currently, cooperation areas between the two sides include the supply of high-quality farm produce for the Japanese market, new markets for Japanese and Mekong Delta travel agencies, and financial, credit, delivery, medical checkup and treatment, education and vocational training services, among others.

As shown in VCCI’s statistics, as of the end of October 2018, the Mekong Delta had attracted 169 FDI projects from Japan with a combined registered capital of US$2.21 billion, accounting for 10.5% of the whole region’s total FDI inflow.