Kazunori Sudo, General Director of Hitachi Asia (Vietnam). (Photo: courtesy of the company) Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has always been one of the few countries able to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the Government’s efforts and determination as well as the application of many flexible measures, said Kazunori Sudo, General Director of Hitachi Asia (Vietnam).
Kazunori Sudo made the remarks in an interview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA). The following is the full text of the interview.
Q: The COVID-19 pandemic has recently become more complicated in Vietnam. How do you assess the efforts made by the Vietnamese Government to contain the hot spots and prevent the spread of the virus?
Vietnam is now facing the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections, primarily caused by the variant first found in India. The resurgence is on a bigger scale and more complicated than previous outbreaks. However, I think that Vietnam has always been one of the few countries able to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the Government’s efforts and determination as well as the application of many flexible measures.
The factory of Hitachi ABB in Bac Ninh province is disinfected daily (Photo: courtesy of Hitachi ABB). The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of difficulties, challenges for economies around the world, including Vietnam. Vietnam’s GDP growth reached 5.64 percent in the first six months of the year, this testifies to the judiciousness of the Vietnamese Government’s “twin target” of concurrently fighting the pandemic and protecting people’s health, while boosting socio-economic recovery and development.
A meeting room of the company is turned into a temporary accommodation establishment for workers (Photo: courtesy of Hitachi ABB). To help achieve the “twin target” of the Vietnamese Government, Hitachi has strictly followed the Government instruction for pandemic measures, such as, the 5K requirements, working online during social distancing, shortening work hours, halving the number of workers at factories, conducting health screenings, and making health declarations. Hitachi experts have followed the rules during the quarantine period and have been doing testing as set by the Ministry of Health to minimize virus transmission and guarantee the backup force for production and business activities.
The company coordinates with the Trade Union of Hanoi's Hoang Mai district to increase nutrition for meals of workers (Photo: courtesy of Hitachi ABB). Q: The national COVID-19 Vaccine Fund made debut on June 5, aiming to mobilize resources for the purchase and import of vaccines as well as for the research, development, and production of domestic vaccines. What do you think about this initiative?
The pandemic has seriously impacted every socio-economic aspect. To help achieve the “twin target”, on the evening of June 5, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh called on every business and individual to join hands with the Government to donate to the vaccine fund with the goal to secure vaccines as soon as possible for all people living in Vietnam. Hitachi highly values the Government’s wise policy and efforts. In the context of modest economic conditions compared to other countries, the government wants to carry out the vaccine strategy towards the goal of herd immunity - an effective solution to curb the spread of the virus. To that end, it is necessary to mobilize large resources from the budget and society.
A container truck is disinfected before entering the company's factory. (Photo: courtesy of Hitachi ABB) The Hitachi Group has eight corporations, and 20 offices and factories with about 4,000 employees in Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, and Binh Duong, operating in various fields, including industrial electrical systems, electronic and hi-tech cables, transport, wastewater treatment, and especially information technology development and digital transformation.
Over the past few days, many enterprises, and people, depending on their personal capacity, have voluntarily donated to the COVID-19 vaccine fund, as well as the COVID-19 prevention and control fund. The responsibility of enterprises, both domestic and foreign, has been to jointly contribute to overcome these trying times together for the good of the community, and society. To support this initiative of the Vietnamese Government, Hitachi plans to donate 839 million VND to the vaccine fund. 790 million VND has been committed from Hitachi and 49 million VND has been donated from our Employees in Hitachi Cable Hai Duong through the Trade Union. Hitachi hopes that by contributing to this fund in the localities they are based in, the situation will improve swiftly, and production, and business will be resumed soon.
Partitions are installed in the company's canteen. (Photo: courtesy of Hitachi ABB) As General Director of Hitachi - Asia (Vietnam), I believe in the “twin target” strategy, and sincerely hope that Hitachi’s efforts to support the socio-economic development and State budget plans of Vietnam in the last six months of 2021 will be successful./.
