Vietnam is a major assembling hub for large Japanese manufacturers, including Honda, Canon and Panasonic, with a total of US$78 billion invested in the Southeast Asian country by Japanese firms, according to Vietnam’s finance ministry. Japanese banks also hold strategic stakes in top Vietnamese lenders.
“The two countries agreed to uphold the global order of free trade based on international rules,” Chinh said, after the two leaders signed four cooperation agreements, including on boosting trade in energy transition products and on research and development on semiconductors.
The content of the agreements was not disclosed and Reuters could not establish whether they entailed any binding or financial commitment.
Vietnam’s top leader To Lam urged Japan to increase investment in infrastructure projects after he met Ishiba on Sunday, according to a report on Vietnam government’s portal.
Japan has been involved in preliminary studies for the future construction of a high-speed railway connecting Hanoi to the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City, which with an estimated cost of US$67 billion is Vietnam’s most ambitious infrastructure project.
Leaders, however, did not explicitly mention railways among fields of cooperation. Vietnam has said it plans to finance the project largely on its own.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/japan-vietnam-pledge-support-free-trade-ishiba-hanoi-5094226
