As part of the ongoing business trip to Japan, the Da Nang Investment Promotion and Support Board and the municipal Department of Tourism coordinated with the Consulate General of Viet Nam in Osaka and the Osaka Tourism Association to organise a seminar in Japan’s Osaka on Thursday to promote investment and tourism into Da Nang.

Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang speaking at the seminar

The event was attended by Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Van Quang, municipal People's Committee Standing Vice Chairman Ho Ky Minh, Consul General of Viet Nam to Osaka Ngo Trinh Ha, and Chairman of the Viet Nam - Japan Association for Cultural, Economic and Commercial Exchange Cho Ei Sho, along with more than 80 invited guests who were representatives of businesses involving tourism, service, real estate, healthcare and education in Osaka and press agencies in Japan.

The purpose of the seminar was to promote destinations of Da Nang, with a focus on introducing the city’s investment and business environment, its key projects calling for investment, and its tourism development potential, to investment groups and tourism businesses in Osaka.

In his opening speech delivered at the seminar, Secretary Nguyen Van Quang emphasised that Da Nang was a promising business and investment destination for domestic and international investors in Viet Nam, and Asia as a whole thanks to its beautiful beaches, rich cuisine, unique culture, traditional arts, and synchronously invested tourism infrastructure.

With its orientation to 2030, with a vision towards 2045, Da Nang targets to turn itself into one of the major socio-economic centres of the country and Southeast Asia.

Currently, Da Nang is home to more than 200 Japanese enterprises, representative offices and projects. Japan is currently the largest investor in Da Nang in terms of the number of projects and investment capital of nearly US$1 billion among more than 40 countries and territories investing in the city. In 2021, the Consulate General of Japan was set up in the locality.

At present, a number of large Japanese corporations are showing their keen interest in investing in seaports and international trade centres in the city.

On March 23, the Vietnam Airlines-operated direct air route connecting Da Nang and Narita was resumed, contributing to promoting tourism and commercial investment activities between Da Nang and Japan in the near future.

Over the past time, Da Nang has established friendship and cooperation relations with four Japanese cities of Kisarazu, Kawasaki, Sakai and Yokohama.

Mr. Quang took the opportunity to invite more Japanese businesses to do business in the city, especially in the fields of high-quality healthcare, high technology, information technology, commerce, seaports and tourism.

“We are committed to continuing to improve infrastructure, train human resources, have appropriate policies and create the most favourable conditions for Japanese investors to effectively operate in the city” he affirmed.

Vietnamese Consul General in Osaka Ngo Trinh Ha speaking at the event

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Consul General in Osaka Ngo Trinh Ha quoted Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, affirming that the Viet Nam - Japan cooperation was ‘unlimited’. Priority spheres in cooperation with Viet Nam included digital transformation, energy transformation, and green growth.

The trade turnover between Japan’s Kansai region and Viet Nam stood at US$12 billion in 2022, up 24.2% compared to 2021. Viet Nam attracted more than 850 Kansai-invested projects, accounting for US$9 billion out of US$70 billion USD worth of investment from Japan.

Consul General Ngo Trinh Ha assessed that Da Nang was the 3^rd GDP growth city in Viet Nam and rich in tourism potential, widely known by residents, businesses and authorities in the Kansai region.

He pledged to continue to support the city in investment and cooperation activities with the Kansai region in the near future.

Mrs. Huynh Lien Phuong, Director of the Da Nang Investment Promotion and Support Board, informed that Da Nang identified Japan as its strategic market in promoting and calling for investment.

The city is calling for Japanese investors to invest in such fields as high-tech industry, information technology, R&D, supporting industries, seaport infrastructure development, industrial parks, tourism, healthcare, and education.

According to Director of the Da Nang Department of Tourism Truong Thi Hong Hanh, Japan is identified as a key market for Da Nang tourism with stable growth. In 2019, the total number of Japanese visitors to Da Nang reached more than 183,000 arrivals, an increase of nearly 200% compared to 2015 (92,000 arrivals).

Since Viet Nam opened to international tourism in March 2022, Da Nang has welcomed about 18,000 Japanese visitors. The city boasts a modern and synchronous infrastructure system, the world's leading international hotel brands, new and unique tourism products, and special festivals and events throughout the year.

Notably, the Da Nang International Fireworks Festival 2023 will take place in June and July, and the city is ready to welcome and serve international tourists, including those from Japan.

Delegates at the seminar posing for a group photo

Mr. Mark Reeves, the Brand and Creative Director of BRG Group, introduced the seminar’s attendees to some resorts and golf courses in the city.

Mr. Yamada Yasushi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Sun Frontier Real Estate JSC cum Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sun Frontier Vietnam and Sun Frontier Da Nang, said that the company has been established in Da Nang in 2015. Over the past time, the company has received a lot of strong and practical support from the municipal government in the process of setting up and operating projects.

Mr. Yamada Yasushi said that as a major economic centre in Central Viet Nam, Da Nang boasts a rich natural environment, very good security and order, and high-quality human resources with a peaceful, serious personality and a high spirit of coordination at work. Da Nang has great potential for promoting the development of tourism, information technology and logistics.

Mr. Furuya Seiichi, Director of the Pasona Tech Viet Nam, a subsidiary of Japan's Pasona Group, said that in 2019, the group established Awaji Da Nang Centre on the Awaji Island to implement a project on training information technology engineers. Currently, three IT engineers from Da Nang are working at the Awaji Da Nang Centre.

On the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with the city, the group is developing the IT LAB project in Da Nang, which is expected to go into operation in June 2023 with a scale of 100 employees in 2023 and 500 by 2025.

During the seminar, the participants discussed some issues on Da Nang’s support policies in organising cultural and tourism events in the city.

Concluding the seminar, Da Nang People's Committee Vice Chairman Ho Ky Minh reveled that Da Nang has been making every effort to further improve the city's investment environment in order to meet the needs of investors at both home and abroad.

Reporting by GIA MINH - Translating by M.DUNG