HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City and Japan’s Aichi prefectureshould accelerate cooperation in such potential sectors as engineeringindustry, electronics, information and technology (IT) and plastic chemistry,said Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong.
Hosting a reception for Honorary Consul of Vietnam in Nagoya city of Aichiprefecture Professor Nagato Natsume on December 28, Phong hailed the Japaneselocality’s plan to open its trade office in Ho Chi Minh City, open a directflight connecting Nagoya city with the Vietnamese southern hub, and establishan umbilical cord blood bank at Tu Du hospital.
He said that the move helps bolster trade and cultural exchange as well asdevelop tourism, particularly medical tourism.
The HCM City leader took the occasion to thank Nagato Natsume, who is alsoDirector of the Japanese Cleft Palate Foundation, for his help for Vietnamesechildren with cleft palate, blindness and blood cancer.
He expressed his hope that in the role as the Honorary Consul of Vietnam,Nagato Natsume will continue his efforts to enhance the relations betweenVietnam and Japan in general and Ho Chi Minh City and Aichi prefecture in particular.
The Japanese guest, for his part,said that he will work to enhance and carry out collaborative programmes,especially those in economy, labour cooperation, citizen protection, educationand healthcare, between the two localities in an effective manner.
Many Vietnamese students are living and pursuing study in Aichi while theprefecture is in need of young human resources with great capacity to work atits enterprises and factories, he stressed.
Currently, there are some 200 businesses from Aichi investing in Vietnam, andsome 23,000 Vietnamese people are working and studying in the Japaneselocality.-VNA
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