Businessmen from Đà Nẵng and Wakayama, Japan meet in a business-to-business trade and investment links event. VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — The beach city of Đà Nẵng has offered the most favourable conditions and extra preferential policies for businesses from Wakayama, Japan investing in information technology, hi-tech and supportive industries, as well as property tourism.

Director of the city’s Investment Promotion Agency (IPA), Huỳnh Thị Phương Liên said this at the Đà Nẵng-Wakayama investment promotion and trade connection meeting on July 27, stressing that Japanese investment made an 11.6 per cent share of the city’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), and contributing 9.4 per cent to the added value of Đà Nẵng.

She said Japanese investors poured US$1.04 billion into 230 projects, making it top list among 40 foreign direct investment (FDI) sources in the city, and accounting for 15 per cent of the city’s overall investment source.

Head of the Japanese General Consulate, Yakabe Yoshinori said while Hà Nội and HCM City were facing labour shortages and increasing land prices at industrial parks, Đà Nẵng was seen as an easier alternative with potential manpower and reasonable land prices for Japanese investors.

The business working visit led by the governor of Wakayama would help promote understanding and cooperation and investment between two localities on the 50th anniversary of the Japan-Việt Nam diplomatic ties.

A factory of a Japanese investor - Hatsuta Automatic safety solutions company - in Đà Nẵng Hi-Tech Park. The city has been calling for investment from Wakayama, Japan. VNS Photo Công Thành

Yoshii Kazumi, a member of the Wakayama Prefectural Government, said it’s a great honour for him and the business delegation from Wakayama to join the trade promotion exchange event in Đà Nẵng.

He said the event would create cooperation in tourism and different fields of investment heading to the future for better and deeper understanding between Japan and Việt Nam.

Hirayama Keiji, head of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Đà Nẵng City (JCCID) said the number of Japanese investors heading to the Việt Nam market had been increasing, and members of the Japanese businesses associations in Việt Nam had reached 2,000 – doubling 2011.

He said members of Japanese businesses in Đà Nẵng alone had grown five times from 35 in 2008 to 160 in 2022.

“Đà Nẵng is seen as an attractive investment destination in central Việt Nam with good climate, security and traffic from the inner city to the airport, and available industrial parks with abundant labour force,” Hirayama Keiji said.

“The ratio of hotel service, distribution, offshore investment, and construction among Japanese businesses in Đà Nẵng has been growing, while new investors in added value industries and hi-quality manpower employed businesses have added to the flow of investment,” he said.

He also said the establishment of JCCID aimed to boost friendship, cultural exchange and cooperation between Việt Nam and Japan, setting up an investment environment for the move of Japanese enterprises in central Việt Nam.

Hirayama Keiji, managing director of Hasegawa Việt Nam company, said JCCID was working with local governments in Đà Nẵng and neighbouring provinces to create more favourable living conditions for Japanese businesses and their families as well as schools for kids.

He said JCCID often hosted meetings and dialogues with Đà Nẵng People’s Committee in dealing with barriers to the investment environment.

The director of the city’s IPA called for Japanese businesses from Wakyama to invest in waste treatment projects, supportive and software industries.

She said the city would offer free land-rent tax in 50 years for supportive and software industries projects, while a $130 million investment project in the city’s hi-tech park will enjoy a 10 per cent corporate tax for a 30-year term.

Huỳnh Phước, head of a human resource training centre in Đà Nẵng said it had sent 13,000 graduated students, 800 of which were IT engineers, from central Việt Nam to Japan in the last eight years.

Japan is one of the top working spaces among 6,000 IT students at Đà Nẵng University, according to a survey by the university, making Đà Nẵng a source of manpower for the Japanese market.

A Japanese technology company, Pasona Tech Việt Nam, which has been building an Information Technology (IT) LAB in Đà Nẵng for training human resources in digital transformation needs, had employed 500 qualified students for the Japan market, IPA reports.

Vietnam Airlines has resumed its direct air route from Narita, Tokyo and Đà Nẵng, boosting tourism and investment from Japan to central Việt Nam.

During a job fair in Đà Nẵng, businesses from Wakayama employed 200 students from the city’s Đông Á University to work in Japan.

Wakayama University also inked an agreement on cooperation in Japanese language studies, tourism, IT and economics.

Eight provinces and 128 businesses from Japan also agreed to employ qualified students from Đà Nẵng to work and study. VNS