Japanese enterprises are interested in and looking for investment opportunities in the Mekong Delta region, especially in Vinh Long Province, according to deputy chief representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in HCM City Ida Koji.
At a working session with representatives from the provincial People’s Committee on the investment environment in the locality on Thursday, Koji said Viet Nam was one of the most attractive investment destinations for Japanese and international businesses.
In recent years, Japanese businesses had considered Viet Nam as one of their important investment destinations, ranking second after the US, he noted.
The official mentioned difficulties facing Japanese companies in the locality related to administrative procedures, expressing his hope that Vinh Long authorities would have appropriate policies to support foreign businesses and speed up the simplification of administrative procedures to facilitate foreign firms’ operations.
Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Liet said local authorities always accompanied and created favourable conditions for investors, especially helping them remove difficulties in implementing projects in the locality.
Vinh Long aimed to create breakthroughs in economic and production restructuring in each sector; develop large-scale and high-tech agriculture; and strongly promote the industry as a momentum for economic growth, especially farm produce processing, he said, adding that the locality had been calling for domestic and international resources for concertedly developing and modernising infrastructure facilities, focusing on urban infrastructure, traffic, electricity, irrigation, information and communication technology infrastructure.
It also promoted agriculture and tourism development in connection with the overall development of the Mekong Delta region and the Greater Mekong sub-region, and sustainable socio-economic development in response to climate change and sea level rise, Liet added.
According to Vice Director of the provincial Department of Planning and Investment Nguyen Khac Nhu, Vinh Long’s firms earned US$60.2 million from exporting their products to Japan in 2022, accounting for 8 per cent of the province’s export turnover, and up 40 per cent year-on-year. The main exports were leather shoes, textiles, auto parts, handicrafts, and processed farm produce.
Vinh Long is home to 73 foreign-invested projects from 15 countries and territories. Japan ranked first in terms of total investment capital with $213.8 million in 11 projects, mainly in food and farm produce production and processing, warehousing and storage services, and manufacturing sewing machine parts and small precision machine parts. — VNS