Promoting the advantages,Hai Phong has continuously expanded the friendship, multifacetedcooperation effectively with partners from Japan - the third largesteconomy in the world.
The achievement in socio-economicdevelopment that Hai Phong has achieved in the past years is partlycontributed by the Japanese Government and investors. Many of theimportant infrastructure projects in Hai Phong marked the friendship ofVietnam and Japan, such as Highway 10, Kien Bridge, Binh Bridge, HaiPhong International Gateway Port Construction Project, Tan Vu - LachHuyen Construction Project, etc.
These strategic infrastructureprojects meant not only to Hai Phong, but the East-West corridor area,creating a new impetus for the city to develop more strongly.
EspeciallyHai Phong and Japan's Kitakyushu city signed a friendship andcooperation agreement in 2009. Immediately after the signing, the twolocalities deployed quickly and efficiently the diplomatic activities.
Withfinancial support from JICA, CLAIR, JETRO of Japan, Kitakyushu city hassupported Hai Phong to implement a lot of projects in water supply,waste management, training of civil servants, workshops organising andtechnical exchanges and create cooperation opportunities for enterprisesof the two cities, thereby enhancing management skills and operatingskills for business leaders of Hai Phong. It can be said that thecooperation between the Hai Phong and Kitakyushu City has confirmed thesolid cooperation between Japan and Hai Phong.
In recent yearswith the preferential policies on investment, Hai Phong is one of thecities attracting most FDI in the country. Hai Phong has attracted 66projects from Japan with investment capital of 3.3 billion USD,accounting for 55 percent of the total investment. Most projects have anaverage capital scale of 20-30 million USD with an area of 2-3ha ofland rent, the average investment rate of capital of investment projectsfrom Japanese investors reach 10.3 million USD per ha.
Recentlythe industrial parks and economic zones in the city have attracted anumber of large-scale projects such as Bridgestone, Nipro Pharma,Kyocera Mita, Fuji Xerox. The number of employees working in Japaneseenterprises are 28,000, accounting for 56 percent of total employment inthe industrial parks and economic zones.
Hai Phong is one of thefew localities of the country that has attracted much attention of theJapanese Government and counterparts, evidenced by many projects fundedby Japanese ODA, especially many investment projects in infrastructureand transportation such as Hai Phong port project Phase 1 and 2; theNational Highway 5 and 10 Project, and Binh Bridge.
It can besaid that the Japanese ODA plays a very important role for thedevelopment of the city during the past few decades, not only motivatingeconomic development, connecting Hai Phong with the outside, but alsocontributing to the more vivid appearance and the sustainabledevelopment of the port city.
One of the typical JapaneseODA-funded projects in Hai Phong is Tan Vu-Lach Huyen motorway. Startedin early 2014, the project has a total investment of 11,849 billion VND,in which Japanese ODA loans was 10,049 billion VND and Vietnam'sreciprocal capital is 1,800 billion VND. With a length of 5.44 km, TanVu - Lach Huyen bridge will be the longest sea crossing bridge inVietnam and one of the longest sea-crossing bridges in Southeast Asia.The work will provide great impetus to economic development for HaiPhong and the northern region.
Hai Phong has always appreciatedthe friendly relations with Japan. Through projects using ODA funds, thesupport of the Japanese Government for Vietnam was well as Hai Phonghas been remarkably effective.
In the coming time, Hai Phong willcontinue to accelerate projects funded by Japanese ODA in buildingtransport infrastructure, seaports and industrial parks to attractJapanese companies to invest in Hai Phong. The city will also pay moreattention to promoting Japanese language teaching, and developingJapanese urban architecture.-VNA