Vietnam leader offers to proactively accept investment from Japan

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, left, shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda as they exchange documents on their joint statements at Noda's office in Tokyo on Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. (AP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno, Pool)

(Mainichi Japan)
November 2, 2011

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung offered to proactively accept Japanese firms' investment in Vietnam's infrastructure projects at a breakfast meeting with transport minister Takeshi Maeda in Tokyo on Wednesday, meeting participants said.

Dung noted that public-private partnership, in which the public and private sectors cooperate from the initial planning stages of infrastructure development, is important for constructing such infrastructure as railways, seaports and airports, they said.

Twenty leaders from Japanese firms, including general contractors, attended the breakfast meeting, emphasizing their technological capabilities and willingness to participate in infrastructure development in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese prime minister responded that his government has prepared favorable conditions to facilitate public-private partnership projects, the participants said.

The Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry arranged the meeting between Japanese business executives and Dung in consideration of their growing interest in infrastructure exports to Vietnam.

Japanese and Vietnamese firms have agreed to form a joint venture for investment in the development of the Lach Huyen port in northern Vietnam.

The Vietnamese prime minister also met with Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Wednesday and discussed with them his visit the previous day to Miyagi Prefecture's Natori, which was hit by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, according to the Imperial Household Agency.

The emperor thanked Dung for sending a message of condolence and providing support to the people affected by the disaster, while the Vietnamese leader invited the emperor to visit his country, the agency said.