HCM City(VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City wants to step up economic cooperation and culturalexchange with Japan’s prefecture of Chiba, said Chairman of the city’s People’sCommittee Nguyen Thanh Phong on November 20.
He made the remarkswhile meeting with Governor of Chiba Kensaku Morita, who was on a visit to thecity.
Phong told theJapanese governor that he highly values the growing relations between HCM Cityand Chiba, and that the city welcomes all Japanese delegations, including thosefrom Chiba, to visit and explore opportunities for cooperation and investment.
He suggested that thetwo localities enhance economic and cultural exchanges and discuss cooperationin urban planning and management, innovative urban development, and humanresources. The two sides should also consider setting up a partnership similarto that between HCM City and Japan’s Yokohama in nursing training, he added.
Kensaku Morita, forhis part, highly spoke of HCM City’s potential, saying that Chiba wants tobolster cooperation with the southern economic hub in the fields of trade,investment, agriculture, education, human resources, and tourism.
He also briefed hishost on Chiba’s socio-economic status and development potentials, affirmingthat Chiba authorities stand ready to provide support for the Vietnamesecommunity in the prefecture, contributing to strengthening friendship andcooperation between Chiba and Vietnam.
HCM City now houses 48FDI projects from Chiba, including many big names in the retail industry, like Aeonand Ministop.
They are among about1,200 FDI projects operated by Japanese firms in HCM City, which have a totalinvestment of more than 4 billion USD, making Japan the fifth largest foreign investorin the city.
The Japanese BusinessAssociation in HCM City currently has nearly 1,000 members.–VNA