Hanoi (VNA)♋ – President Tran Dai Quang has hoped that Japanese businesses will increase investment in Vietnam, especially in developing hi-quality infrastructure and support industry.

At a reception for visiting President and CEO of Japan’s Sojitz Corporation Yoji Sato in Hanoi on June 28, the State leader urged Japanese firms to provide more support for Vietnam in human resources training, agricultural development and climate change response. Vietnam will continue perfecting the legal framework and policies to create a favourable business climate for foreign investors, President Quang noted, adding that Japanese enterprises’ successful operation in Vietnam will contribute to promoting the intensive strategic partnership between the two countries. He hailed Sojitz Corporation – one of the largest trading groups in Japan – for its contribution to Vietnam’s socio-economic development since the country started its reform process. He also expressed his delight at the strong, practical and comprehensive development of the Vietnam-Japan relationship. Japan is now the largest official development assistance (ODA) provider, the second investor and the fourth trade partner of Vietnam, he said, adding that the economic cooperation with Japan is crucial for the Southeast Asian country’s development. The two countries see great potential to boost collaboration in the fields of economy, trade and investment, especially when Vietnam is integrating deeper into the regional and global economy by joining in a number of new-generation free trade deals such as Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal, the President highlighted. For his part, Yoji Sato said Sojitz Corporation’s two industrial parks in the southern province of Dong Nai are welcoming Japanese investors in the support industry, warehousing, seaport, airport and electricity. The corporation will set foot in the fields of wholesale, retail sales, chemicals, afforestation, wood processing, and production of fertilizer, animal feed and safe agricultural products, he added. He revealed his firm’s determination to continue expanding investment in Vietnam while wishing to receive more support and cooperation from local authorities to operate effectively in the country. As a general trading company, Sojitz Corporation has engaged in a wide range of sectors like automobiles, energy, mineral resources, agricultural and forestry resources, consumer goods and industrial parks. The group has some 400 subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. It set up its first representative office in Vietnam in 1986 and became the first foreign company to receive the country’s Friendship Order in 2006 for significant contributions to local socio-economic development and Vietnam-Japan friendship relations.-VNA