HANOI: The Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s branch in Cần Thơ City and Japan’s Brain Works Co signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to stimulate Japanese investments in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta region and enhance trade co-operation between the two countries. VCCI Cần Thơ and Brain Work Co, a Japanese enterprise specialising in investment advice, ICT and human resource training with 20 years of experiences in Việt Nam, will promote a programme to boost annual trade exchanges between businesses from both countries. The programme will include market research, business consulting, training and connecting businesses.
The two sides agreed to establish a Research and Development Centre of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the Mekong Delta region in 2017. The centre will consist of 11 members, including a non-profit organisation in charge of supporting and developing the Japanese business community in Asia, together with 10 Japanese software programming, ICT, Internet of things (IoT), education, health and investment promotion firms.
Võ Hùng Dũng, Director of VCCI Cần Thơ, said the centre is critical to boosting ICT development in the region and also a breakthough in attracting foreign investments in this sector in line with the socio-economic development direction of Việt Nam, in general, and Cần Thơ City, in particular. Dũng noted, however, that most businesses in the region are of small and medium size, which remains a problem since they mainly operate in the field of exports such as rice and seafood and few are in raw materials. “Therefore, to meet market requirements, it is inevitable to apply modern technology in production to create high value-added products as well as improving governance,” Dũng said.
Noboru Kondo, President of Brain Works said that Cần Thơ Province has huge development potential and plays an important role in connecting Vietnamese and Japanese businesses in the Mekong Delta region. Although Japan’s FDI places second in Việt Nam, with more than US$40 billion, its FDI in the Mekong Delta remains modest. As of 2016, Japan had 140 new projects in the Mekong Delta with a total capital of over $645 million.
