Da Nang (VNA)𝔍 – The central city of Da Nang organised an investment promotion week for 15 members of the Japanese Business Association (Keidanren), and 120 other Japanese businesses, in Japan from November 9 to November 12.

In a meeting with Kyohei Takahashi, Chairman of Showa Denko, and Kuniharu Nakamura, Chairman of Sumitomo, Chairman of the city's People's Committee Huynh Duc Tho said the city has offered investment from Japan in the high-tech, tourism and real estate sector. Keidanren, which has 1,601 members consists of 1,281 companies, 129 industrial associations, and 47 regional economic organisations, had inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vietnam's Ministry of Planning and Investment in 2012 on setting up a dialogue link and holding discussions on economic growth and industrialisation in Vietnam, as well as boosting investment from Japan. Motoshi Mitobe, General Director of Tokyo Keiki, which was the first Japanese company in the Da Nang High-Tech Park, with a 40 million USD investment, said the investment in the central city was a long-term strategy of the company. He asked Da Nang's leadership to speed up the completion of infrastructure, waste water treatment and green environment for investors in the high-tech park. Chairman of Route Inn Group Nagayama Katsutoshi said the group has planned 10 hotels in Da Nang and other cities of Vietnam. In September, Route Inn Group signed a MoU with Da Nang-based Dong A College for training employees in tourism services. They will begin recruiting 200 graduates from the college starting in 2018 to serve in a chain of 320 hotels in Japan and Vietnam. In a talk with the leadership of Keidanren, the city also proposed to soon launch a direct flight between Osaka and Da Nang, as seven direct flights a week to Narita had helped promote tourism since its launch last year. The central city was also committed to creating the most favourable conditions for Japanese businesses in the city in the future, the Da Nang's city leader said. The city planned to build a 1.2ha Vietnam-Japan Culture Centre and a 134ha industrial park for medium and small-size businesses from Japan. Kana Miyazaki, Deputy Chief Representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) in Hanoi, said a recent survey by JETRO pointed out that 66 percent of the 458 Japanese firms based in Vietnam planned to expand their business during the next one or two years. A recent survey by Shoko Chukin Bank from Japan showed that 40.7 percent of the 3,750 respondents from various Japanese businesses in Japan said they would invest in Vietnam. According to the latest report, Da Nang has attracted 305 foreign investment projects worth 3.37 billion USD. Japan ranked fourth among top investors in Da Nang with 89 projects worth 378 million USD, of which 55 projects involve manufacturing, creating 30,000 jobs for the local people.-VNA