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On the morning of December 11th, in Thanh Hoa city, Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee cooperated with the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Vietnam, the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) to organize the Thanh Hoa – Japan Investment Connection Conference in 2020. The conference attracted nearly 200 direct participants and about 100 delegates from Japanese businesses attending online from different foreign points via video conferencing.

Thanh Hoa organized the Conference of Thanh Hoa – Japan Investment Connection in 2020

The conference witnessed the attendance of Mr. Yamamoto Kohei, Secretary of commercial investment of Japan Embassy in Vietnam; Mr. Takeo Nakajima, Head of Representative Office of JETRO; Mr. Do Nhat Hoang, FIA Director General of MPI.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thi – Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee is speaking at conference

From Thanh Hoa province, there were Mr. Nguyen Van Thi, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; representatives of leaders of provincial departments and enterprises that have been investing and operating in Thanh Hoa.

Chairing the Conference, Mr. Nguyen Van Thi – Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee gave a general introduction of the investment potentials and strengths of Thanh Hoa province and the economic cooperation relationship between Japan and Thanh Hoa. Up to now, Thanh Hoa province has had 134 valid foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total registered capital of more than USD 13.8 billion. In which, there are 15 FDI projects with investment capital from Japan, with total investment capital of such projects of more than USD 12.8 billion and the capital of Japanese investors is nearly USD 6.56 billion, accounting for 51% of total FDI and currently is the country with the highest amount of FDI investment capital in Thanh Hoa province. Export turnover of Thanh Hoa province to Japan in 2019 reached USD 383million, accounting for approximately 11% of the total export turnover of the province, by 2020, is expected to reach USD 385 million.

In addition, Thanh Hoa has more than 12,000 trainees working in Japan and from 1997 until now, Thanh Hoa has also received 10 Japanese ODA programs and projects with a total committed capital of about USD 45.5 million. Mr. Thi also emphasized that the results of investment cooperation between Thanh Hoa province and Japanese agencies, organizations and investors were not small. However, the room for cooperation and exchange between the two sides could be very huge. Therefore, Thanh Hoa province requested international agencies, organizations and Japanese investors to pay attention to, study and research investment and business in Thanh Hoa in the priority fields; requested the Embassy of Japan and international organizations of Japan in Vietnam, especially the Foreign Investment Agency, to support Thanh Hoa province to establish a Japanese business support department that help training Japanese language and strengthening cooperation at the local level with Thanh Hoa province.

Presenting at the conference, representatives of the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam, JETRO, FIA- MPI and Japanese enterprises made a clearer picture of the investment situation of Japan in countries in the world,  in the region and in Vietnam. In which, Vietnam has been considered as a safe country for Japanese investors when they encounter less risks related to production and business activities, especially in quality management and orders; at the same time, they also appreciated the investment environment in Thanh Hoa province, including potentials, strengths, policies to attract investment and attention to support and create favorable conditions for investors from the Party committees and local authorities.

During the COVID-19 epidemic, delegates of Japanese businesses realized that they should not concentrate the production in one country, but it needed to be dispersed in different countries to get support for supply roads for their products, and Vietnam was  a destination that Japanese investors were interested in. Therefore, they also shared experiences to help Thanh Hoa province do better in investment promotion, connecting and supporting Japanese businesses in the coming time.

The People’s Committee of Thanh Hoa Province, JETRO, FIA- MPI, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening friendship and promoting Japanese investment in Thanh Hoa. 

At the conference, the People’s Committee of Thanh Hoa Province, JETRO, FIA- MPI, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding on strengthening friendship and promoting Japanese investment in Thanh Hoa. Thanh Hoa Provincial People’s Committee and Aeon Mall Vietnam Company also signed a MOU on investment of the project “Aeon Mall Trade Center in Thanh Hoa province” with total estimated investment capital of USD 190 million.