Leaders of Long An visit and give Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) New Year greeting

The meeting session at JICA Office in Ho Chi Minh City

Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Minh Lam introduced the Head of JICA Office in Ho Chi Minh City - Chikahiro MASUDA to the New Year greetings tradition of Long An People's Committee to international partners who have strong relationships with the province. Particularly in 2022, in addition to the purpose of visiting and new year greeting, leaders of Long An province also consider this as an opportunity to meet and exchange between the Provincial People's Committee and the Japan International Cooperation Agency after a long hiatus due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Vice Chairman of Long An Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Minh Lam said that, despite still being heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2022, Long An authorities and people have strived to complete all socio-economic goals set.

In particular, economic growth in the year was estimated at 8.46%, far exceeding the plan set out at the beginning of the year. During the year, the province also successfully organized the Long An Investment Promotion Conference in Japan. These results all have great contributions and enthusiastic support from Japanese partners and businesses, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Currently, there are 130 Japanese enterprises investing in Long An province with a total capital of over 480 million USD. The Japanese business community has operated very effectively and contributed very positively to the socio-economic development of the locality in recent years.

The delegation of Long An province took souvenir photos with leaders and staff of JICA Office in Ho Chi Minh City

Mr. Chikahiro MASUDA deeply thanked leaders of Long An province and Mr. Nguyen Minh Lam personally for taking the time to visit and greet Japan International Cooperation Agency - Ho Chi Minh City Office. In the opinion of the Head of JICA HCMC Office, in the coming time, Long An province should focus on actively supporting to solve difficulties and problems of Japanese enterprises investing in Long An.

Mr. MASUDA highly appreciated the dialogue with Japanese businesses held in Long An province on August 23, 2022. According to him, such activities, in addition to helping the business activities of Japanese enterprises investing locally, also create a spillover effect, contributing to attracting more Japanese businesses to invest in Long An in the future.

As for the cooperation programs being implemented by the Ho Chi Minh City JICA Office with Long An province, Mr. Chikahiro MASUDA said that JICA has found a volunteer at the request of the Long An Mental Hospital. Currently, this volunteer is being trained in Vietnamese and the necessary skills to come to Vietnam to work, and is expected to be in Long An in 2023.

In addition, on December 9, 2022, JICA Office in Ho Chi Minh City also implemented JUDO treatment, which is a traditional Japanese treatment method, which helps reduce pain for the body of patients effectively, while helping to reduce treatment costs compared to other treatment methods. In the coming time, Japan International Cooperation Agency will coordinate with Long An Department of Health to implement this program in Long An.

Towards the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations establishment between Vietnam and Japan (1973 - 2023), the head of the JICA Ho Chi Minh City Office said that this will be an important milestone in the relationship between the two countries. He hoped that the relationship between the two countries will have a great development through this event. Mr. MASUDA personally said he was very pleased and proud to be a part of this historic milestone.

Vice Chairman of Long An Provincial People's Committee - Nguyen Minh Lam thanked JICA Office in Ho Chi Minh City for the support in the past time. Mr. Lam hoped that in the near future, Long An province would receive more cooperation and coordination activities from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, especially in areas where Japan has strengths such as agriculture and vocational training.

According to the program, the delegation of Long An province continued to visit and give New Year greetings to a number of diplomatic missions of countries: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, India, etc./.

By Quoc Thinh - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/lanh-dao-tinh-long-an-den-tham-va-chuc-tet-co-quan-hop-tac-quoc-te-nhat-ban-jica--a147251.html