Ho Chi Minh City is aiming to promote dialogues with Japan’s Aichi Prefecture in an effort to enhance the relations between the two localities while simultaneously accelerating co-operation in traditional fields such as tourism and education. 

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee hosts a reception for Ohmura Hideaki, Governor of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, on September 14.

Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, outlined the southern city’s position during a reception for Ohmura Hideaki, Governor of Japan’s Aichi Prefecture, on September 14. 

Phong called on Aichi Prefecture’s enterprises to shift their production bases to HCM City for the purpose of further strengthening the long-standing friendship that exists between the two localities.

The HCM City leader thanked the Japanese Government for their timely support in Vietnam’s COVID-19 fight and expressed his belief that Japan, including Aichi Prefecture, will be successful in their endeavors to contain the epidemic. 

He went on to affirm that the southern city has exerted every effort to meet the dual goal of epidemic prevention and economic recovery, adding that the Vietnamese side is willing to share its experience and co-operate with Aichi Prefecture in the battle against the COVID-19 epidemic. 

In response, Governor Hideaki spoke highly of the HCM City success in containing the pandemic and maintaining socio-economic development, both of which are expected to create favourable conditions for the two localities to continue intensifying ties once the epidemic has been fully brought under control.

The Japanese Governor thanked HCM City for supporting Aichi Prefecture in successfully organising the Vietnam Festivals in the Japanese locality, and hoped that there will be close co-ordination to host more events next year. 

During the reception, Noriko Hirose, HCM City's tourism ambassador in Aichi Prefecture, revealed that the Japanese locality is willing to continue to implement co-operation programmes and share experience in training human resources in the tourism industry, along with organising bilateral exchanges once the epidemic has been brought under control. 

Bilateral trade between HCM City and Japan between January – July 2020 reached approximately US$3 billion. Japan ranks fifth out of 110 countries and territories that invest in the southern metropolis, with a total investment of roughly US$4.5 billion. 

As of August last year, a total of 43 companies from Aichi Prefecture injected nearly US$37 million in the city, accounting for one third of its businesses investing in Vietnam, with a specific focus on the automobile, communications, science and technology, processing, and manufacturing industries.