Tokyo (VNA) – A conference took place in Tokyo on July 25 to connect Japaneseinvestors with Vietnamese localities, industrial parks, and enterprises.

The event,part of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the two countries’diplomatic ties, attracted a large number of investors and businesses from bothcountries.

It was organisedby the Vietnam Trade Promotion Agency (Vietrade) under the Ministry of Industryand Trade, the ASEAN - Japan Centre (AJC), the Vietnamese Trade Office in Japan,the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), and the provinces of Hau Giang, BacKan and Lai Chau and Da Nang city of Vietnam

VietradeDirector Vu Ba Phu said that via the conference, representatives of localities,industrial parks, and enterprises of Vietnam could directly meet Japaneseinvestors to look into the demand and situation of Japanese investment in thecountry and discuss measures for enhancing investment ties.

In particular,officials of Hau Giang, Bac Kan, Lai Chau, and Da Nang had chances to providedetails about investment and business climate in their localities, along with their policies fortackling difficulties facing enterprises and recovering production and businessactivities after the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.

AJCSecretary General Kunihiko Hirabayashi said AJC last year submitted a medium-termstrategic plan until 2025 aimed at responding to big changes in theinternational and regional situations. The plan includes promoting anddiversifying investment such as direct investments that are sustainable andhave positive socio-economic impacts from Japan to ASEAN countries, especiallyVietnam.

AJCattaches special importance to investments promoting green growth andcircular economy, and will expand trade and investment cooperation activities betweenJapan and ASEAN more comprehensively, he went on.

Since the diplomatic relationship was established in 1973,Japan has always been one of the leading partners of Vietnam.

As of June 20, it had 5,116 valid projects worth over 69.9billion USD in Vietnam. It is also the biggest supplier of official developmentassistance (ODA) for the Southeast Asian country, with about 30 billion USD.

TheNortheast Asian country was the fifth largest importer of Vietnamese goods in thefirst half of 2023, with 11 billion USD in value, statistics show./.