Osaka urged to invest in Viet Nam

A member of the Vietnamese Politburo has proposed Japan’s city of Osaka to develop support policies for Japanese businesses to expand their operations and increase investment in Viet Nam.
Truong Tan Sang, who is also standing member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee, made the suggestion while receiving the Mayor of Osaka, Kunio Hiramatsu, in Ha Noi on Saturday.
In addition, Osaka should boost technology transfers and expand co-operation in education, science, human resources, people-to-people exchanges, cultural exchanges and tourism with Vietnamese localities, he said.
Sang spoke highly of the dynamic socio-economic and cultural development in Osaka, one of Japan’s important trade, industrial and seaport centres in general and the Kansai region in particular.
He applauded the expanded co-operation between Osaka and HCM City, saying that the acceleration of ties between localities played an important role in deepening the Viet Nam-Japan relationship.
Mayor Hiramatsu affirmed that the relationship between Osaka and HCM City had developed fruitfully, especially in politics, economics, culture and people-to-people exchanges.
Trade promotion
Earlier last week, he pledged to use Osaka’s extensive experience in fighting floods, waste water treatment and environmental protection to help HCM City.
Addressing an Osaka-Kansai investment and trade promotion conference held in HCM City, Kunio Hiramatsu said rapid economic development had seen Osaka City become seriously polluted 50 years ago.
The city suffered severe flooding every time the tide was high or it rained heavily because it is situated at lower than the sea level, he said.
“To overcome the situation, we carried out many projects including wastewater treatment systems and comprehensive anti-flooding measures,” the mayor said, adding that the efforts have paid off with Osaka becoming one of the greenest cities in the world, attracting a lot of travellers every year.
Thai Van Re, director of the HCM City Department of Planning and Investment, said the city faced many challenges, including water management, waste treatment and environmental pollution.
HCM City experiences a high rate of fresh water loss at nearly 40 per cent, and the supply of water for daily use and for production purposes is shrinking due to climate change impacts, water source pollution and saline intrusion, he said.
The city planned to fully meet its water needs by 2025, and has mapped out plans to control urban flooding, he said.
The city wanted to learn from Osaka’s experiences because its terrain is similar to that of the Japanese city, he said.
Last Thursday, the visiting mayor and HCM City deputy standing chairman Nguyen Thanh Tai signed a memorandum of understanding on co-operation in key areas, including environment and water management, for the 2011-15 period.
The Sai Gon Water Supply Corporation (Sawaco) and the Water Supply Department of Osaka have already established ties in water management, he said.
Tai said that although HCM City has mobilised capital from society for socio-economic development, it needed more of it for infrastructure, transport, clean water and environmental sanitation projects. — VNS

Tags: invest in Vietnam, Vietnam FDI, Vietnam FDI 2011, Vietnam investment

Posted by VBN on Jul 12 2011. Filed under Investment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry