Welcoming high-quality cooperation capital from Japan

Japan is currently the largest foreign investor in Thanh Hoa, with 22 projects of Japanese investors and joint ventures, accounting for more than 82.5% of the total FDI capital of the province, making Thanh Hoa the second locality in the country in terms of Japanese capital scale after Ho Chi Minh City.

Operating at the Operation Center, Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Plant - a project with investment capital from Japan and contributing a significant amount of tax revenue to the Thanh Hoa provincial budget every year.

At the Vietnam - Japan Local Cooperation Forum recently held in Quang Ninh , Thanh Hoa province continued to make its mark with the image of a locality that is receptive, cooperative and dynamic in attracting international capital flows. Also here, many Japanese organizations and enterprises suggested important solutions to help Thanh Hoa continue to improve its investment environment and enhance its ability to absorb high-quality cooperation opportunities.

In addition to sharing successful experiences in attracting Japanese investment, participating in the thematic session at the forum, Thanh Hoa province is ready to express the challenges of supporting infrastructure and the quality of high-tech human resources. These are limitations that prevent the province from attracting many projects in the field of supporting industry - the strength of Japanese enterprises. In addition, the scale of local enterprises is still small, management capacity, and scientific and technical level are limited, so the ability to participate in the production chain, supply chain, and value chain of Japanese enterprises is not high.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Cao Van Cuong affirmed that Thanh Hoa will continue to innovate its thinking in attracting foreign direct investment in a selective manner, focusing on strategic projects with high added value, using modern technology, meeting environmental standards and having a spillover effect in the global production chain. The Japanese projects operating in Thanh Hoa are the clearest evidence of a dynamic investment model, creating growth nuclei for many industries and fields of the province in particular and the whole country in general.

Along with that vision, the province will mobilize and effectively use social resources to continue to perfect the socio-economic infrastructure system in a synchronous and modern direction. The focus is on key infrastructure projects such as transportation, economic zones, industrial parks and urban infrastructure, to overcome bottlenecks and create new room for growth. At the same time, the province will step up the review and adjustment of planning to clearly define development space, creating a stable foundation for investors. Improving the quality of human resources, especially high-tech human resources, will be identified as a priority task to meet the needs of effective project operation. In the management work, the provincial authorities at all levels will maintain regular dialogue, listen and promptly resolve the reflections and recommendations of Japanese enterprises; at the same time, continue to perfect mechanisms and policies to encourage and favor investment in a transparent, fair and easy-to-implement direction.

At the forum, many opinions from the Japanese side raised important suggestions. Mr. Takebe Tsutomu, special advisor to the Vietnam - Japan Friendship Parliamentarians' Union, emphasized: "Human resources are the core element of every economic cooperation model. Localities in Vietnam need to pay attention to the human resource circulation model. Another notable new point is the proposal to develop a human resource group combined with a digital technology platform. This is considered the "key" to the productivity of small and medium enterprises in the new period."

Thanh Hoa provincial leaders attended a thematic session on trade, investment, human resources cooperation and agriculture at the Vietnam - Japan Local Cooperation Forum 2025.

Many Japanese enterprises also expressed their confidence in choosing Thanh Hoa as their cooperation destination. Mr. Kenta Kawanabe, General Director of Thang Long Industrial Parks in Vietnam, Sumitomo Corporation, affirmed: “We have made the right decision to invest in Thanh Hoa. The strong commitments of the provincial leaders at today's forum further strengthen our confidence in developing Thang Long Thanh Hoa Industrial Park into a model industrial park, attracting quality secondary investors. This is also the motivation for Sumitomo to persevere with the next stages and continue to introduce partners to learn about Thanh Hoa”.

From the Japanese local perspective, Mr. Ishidera Junichi, Deputy Governor of Yamanashi Prefecture, highly appreciated Thanh Hoa's industrial growth rate, FDI attraction and agricultural scale. Thanh Hoa's cooperation proposals in production cooperation and high-tech agricultural transfer continued to be expanded and connected by the two sides. Yamanashi Prefecture also invited Thanh Hoa to attend specialized conferences organized by the province to promote steps towards signing official cooperation agreements, especially in the fields of energy and agriculture.

With export turnover to the Japanese market reaching nearly 3.4 billion USD in the 2021-2025 period, along with the increasingly expanding flow of quality investment capital, Thanh Hoa is entering a new, deeper and more substantial cooperation orbit with Japan. The support commitments from the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in connecting businesses, promoting trade, tourism and people-to-people exchanges promise to bring strong impetus, opening up new heights for the cooperative relationship between Thanh Hoa and Japanese localities and investors in the coming time.

Article and photos: Minh Hang

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/don-dong-von-hop-tac-chat-luong-cao-nbsp-tu-nhat-ban-270297.htm