The Vietnam-Japan economic forum opened in Da Nang city on Aug. 14 to provide businesses with information on the investment climate as well as share experience on doing business in the central region.

The forum heard assessments by Japanese businessmen of the region’s business environment as well as the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which offers opportunities to expand commerce and investment.

The forum is part of the 2009 Japan Festival held in Da Nang and Hoi An ancient town with the aim of further tightening friendship and economic cooperation between the people and businesses of both countries.

According to Japanese Ambassador Mitsuo Sakaba, based on mid- and long-term prospects, Japanese companies will greatly expand their operations in Da Nang. Almost 40 Japanese businesses have recently increased their investment in central Vietnam, of which Da Nang is a part.

However, the Ambassador said the region would be even more attractive if the transport infrastructure were better developed.

He stressed the importance of links with universities in the region, in order to develop human resources, especially native Vietnamese with strong Japanese language skills, which would accelerate the development of two-way trade.

By the end of 2008, Japan was Vietnam’s third largest investor with 105 projects capitalised at 7.2 billion USD despite the global economic downturn.

In the first six months of this year, Japan invested in 35 projects in Vietnam with a total in registered capital of nearly 94 million USD.

To date, Japan has run 1,113 projects with a combined capital of more than 17 billion USD, accounting for 10.67 percent of Vietnam ’s total foreign direct investment.

Da Nang alone has 34 Japan-invested projects with a total capital of more than 178 million USD, making up almost 7 percent of the registered capital in FDI projects in the city./.