TOKYO – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc assured more than 30 corporate executives in the Kansai region of Japan that Vietnamese localities will offer all possible support for them to do business.

The Vietnamese leader made the point during a dialogue yesterday. Speaking highly of Kansai firms’ strength in equipment manufacturing, mechanical engineering, support industry and trade, the PM wished that they would soon launch projects in Việt Nam.

He suggested developing a particular scheme for the Kansai region based on survey results, adding that Kansai businesses should pour capital into key infrastructure projects, particularly those in public-private partnership models, environment and water resources treatment, renewable energy, finance-banking, and especially equitisation of State-owned enterprises.

Việt Nam is committed to creating the most favourable conditions for Japanese firms to do long-term business in the country, he stated.

Participating Kansai firms operate in electronics, trade, iron and steel, food processing, banking, construction, media, health care and industrial parks.

They asked the Vietnamese government to upgrade infrastructure, further develop support industry, and minimise foreign exchange risks for investors due to the importation of materials.

As Japan’s major economic and industrial region, Kansai is home to 10 prefectures including three big cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe with strength in the manufacturing industry. The Kansai economic region is worth nearly US$931 billion, focusing on garments, chemicals and electronic spare parts.

Meeting Osaka prefecture authorities the same day, PM Phúc said Việt Nam appreciates the expansion of co-operation with Japanese localities, including the Osaka prefecture and other localities in the Kansai region, considering it an important factor in advancing ties between Việt Nam and Japan.

Lauding the results of co-operation between the Osaka prefecture and Vietnamese localities, especially HCM City and Hội An City, he thanked Osaka authorities and people for actively helping the Vietnamese Consulate General perform its role as a bridge linking the Kansai region and Việt Nam, as well as assisting Vietnamese nationals living here.

On the occasion, he asked Governor of Osaka prefecture Ichiro Matsui and Kansai authorities to encourage local enterprises, especially small- and medium-size ones, to invest in Việt Nam in the fields of high technology and support industries, as well as share experience with Viet Nam in workforce training and technological transfer in agriculture, and enhance labour coordination, including welcoming more Vietnamese technical apprentices to the region.

He wished that Osaka would encourage other Kansai localities to establish co-operative ties and reinforce mutually-beneficial collaboration with Việt Nam.

Governor Matsui, for his part, vowed to continue support for the Vietnamese Consulate General in Osaka and Vietnamese nationals living in the prefecture, thus contributing to intensifying exchanges and mutual understanding between the two countries’ people.

In a meeting with leaders of the Kansai regional chapter of the Japan-Việt Nam Friendship Association, the Vietnamese leader hailed the chapter for boosting bilateral ties over the past two decades.

President of the chapter Teiichi Nishimura informed the PM that the chapter has connected Japanese firms with Vietnamese partners, as well as held cultural and art exchanges over the past years.

He vowed to do his best to strengthen exchanges and mutual understanding between the two countries’ people, including those from Kansai and Vietnamese localities. — VNS