Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received in Hanoi on April 20 Nobuyuki Hirano, Chairman of the Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU) - the largest bank in Japan.

The PM spoke highly of the bank’s providing thousands of billions of US dollars for Japanese investors in projects on industrial production and energy and transport infrastructure construction in Vietnam. The capital provision was the specific result of the round-table dialogue between Prime Minister Dung and the BTMU and other 13 major Japanese groups in Tokyo in December 2013.

Dung also praised the bank’s efforts to support Vietnam to develop its supporting and hi-tech industries and agriculture production, and encourage both countries’ firms to expand trade ties.

He reiterated that the Vietnamese Government continues creating favourable environment for foreign investors, including those from Japan.

Vietnam is working to issue a decree allowing foreign investors to purchase shares from Vietnam’s commercial banks with a higher proportion compared to the current maximum 30 percent, the PM said.

The BTMU Chairman said Vietnam ranked second among ASEAN member states in terms of the number of Japanese investors with over 1,500 enterprises from Japan. This figure will continue to rise in the coming time, he added.

Nobuyuki Hirano noted that Japan is willing to transfer technology in supporting industries to Vietnam’s small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Lauding Vietnam’s strategic orientation regarding regulation, infrastructure and human resources together with its economic restructuring, Nobuyuki Hirano suggested Vietnam continue ramping up skilled worker training, developing the private sector and speeding up equitisation as well as accelerating administrative procedure reform.

Owning 170 billion USD in asset, the BTMU is Japan’s largest bank and one of the world’s largest, with offices throughout Japan and in 40 other countries.

VNA