Da Nang and Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture plan to upgrade the current charter flight service to a regular air route between the two cities to boost their investment, tourism and trade, according to a Japanese official.

Member of Hokkaido Prefectural council, Chiba Hidemori called for the direct flight in a meeting with Da Nang city’s leadership last week.

Hidemori, chairman of the Viet Nam-Japan Friendship Association of Hokkaido, said cultural and trade exchanges and investment have been enhanced between the two sides since 2013, and the direct chartered flight resulted from positive co-operation between the two localities.

Vice chairman of the city’s People’s Committee, Ho Ky Minh said Da Nang had inked memorandums of understanding on investment and co-operation with Yokohama, Kawasaki and Sakai, and built relationships with 15 other cities in Japan.

Minh asked Hokkaido to support Da Nang building up seafood chains with funding from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) of Kushiro city (a city on Hokkaido Island) in the coming years.

Da Nang is home to 143 Japanese projects with total investment of US$500 million. Foreign direct investment projects from Japan create 40,000 jobs for local and neighbouring provinces in central Viet Nam.

Japanese tourists were Da Nang’s second largest tourist segment last year, with more than 400,000 – 10 times as many as in 2013 (40,000).

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget Jetstar Pacific Airlines run direct flights from Da Nang to Narita and Osaka, respectively.— VNS