A delegation of Japanese businesses operating in the infrastructure and financial-banking sectors visited the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on April 22 to eye investment opportunities there.

At a working session with provincial leading officials, Kohei Watanabe, head of the Japan-Mekong Business Cooperation Committee under the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that investing in Can Tho is part of Japan’s investment promotion programme in the Mekong Delta region.

Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Hung Dung said he expects the visit will open up new cooperation opportunities between Japanese businesses and the locality.

Can Tho is implementing a lot of preferential policies to attract more investment to the prioritised fields of farm produce and aquatic product processing, healthcare, education, machinery assemblage and transport infrastructure, he added.

At the working session, municipal representatives called for investment to six projects, for which foreigners will be exempted from paying corporate income tax for two years and only 50 percent for the three following years.

According to the Can Tho Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Centre, there are now 13 Japanese enterprises doing business in the city, mostly in automobile manufacturing, sports equipment and electronics.

Last year, Can Tho earned 155 million USD from exporting garments and agricultural products to Japan, while spending 29.5 million USD on buying goods from the country.-VNA