Delegates attend the plant's opening ceremony on Wednesday. — Photo VNA

Japanese paper maker Oji Holdings inaugurated a US$35 million plant in the northern province of Ha Nam on Wednesday.

Covering more than 60,000sq.m in Dong Van III Supporting Industrial Park, the plant will provide wrinkled paper, corrugated board, paper packaging and high quality paperboard.

The Ojitex Ha Nam plant, the company’s fifth in Viet Nam, is part of Oji Holdings’ plan to cement its position in the hard paper manufacturing market in Southeast Asia, a bloc with strong economic growth and rising demand for hard paper.

In his speech at the opening ceremony, Nguyen Noi, deputy director of the Foreign Investment Agency under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said Japan was Viet Nam’s second largest foreign investors out of 132 countries and territories.

Most Japan-invested projects did not have negative impacts on Viet Nam’s environment, so Ha Nam and other localities were hoping to attract more Japanese investors, he said.

According to Japanese Ambassador to Viet Nam Kunio Umeda, Japanese businesses appreciated Ha Nam's investment environment.

More Japanese enterprises were planning to study investment opportunities in the province, so the ambassador called for local authorities to help facilitate their progress.

Currently, Ha Nam is home to 90 Japanese projects. — VNS