Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, Le Thanh Hai pledged to create favourable conditions for Japanese businesses to invest in the city, especially in the fields of high-tech and support industry.

At a meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Kato Toshiyuki in Tokyo on Oct. 12, Hai thanked Japan for its official development assistance to Vietnam in general and HCM City in particular over the past years, which contributed to developing infrastructure to serve its socio-economic development.

Hai spoke highly of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s role in promoting cooperation between the two countries, and between Ho Chi Minh City and Japanese localities. He said he hoped the ministry will maintain these efforts.

Toshiyuki hailed Ho Chi Minh City’s investment promotion activities in Japan, saying that he believes economic cooperation between the city and Japan will increasingly flourish.

At a reception for Hai, Senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Tadahiro Matsushita said that Japanese businesses are keen on projects in the fields of energy industry and nuclear power in Vietnam.

Matsushita said he hoped the two countries’ governments will establish a dialogue mechanism between sectors and businesses to expand bilateral investment in the future.

Sharing the same view with leaders of the Foreign Ministry and METI, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura expressed thanks to Vietnamese people for their practical and valuable support to the Japanese people in overcoming the consequences of earthquake and tsunami last March.

For his part, Hai thanked Japanese government for its support to the city’s major projects, adding that he hoped as a great economy in the region, Japan will continue supplying aid to Vietnam in the coming years.

He said that HCM City will build industrial zones reserved for Japanese businesses to develop the city’s industry in accordance with the master plan.

The same day, at a meeting with officials of the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, Hai spoke highly of the Vietnamese diplomats’ efforts in developing friendship and cooperation between the two countries in many fields./.