Since 1992, the total pledged ODA funding by the JBIC has reached 8.5 billion USD, which has primarily gone to improving economic infrastructure facilities, said Masayuki Karasawa, JBIC Chief Representative in Viet Nam.

Of the 8.5 billion USD, 35 percent was invested in the energy sector, 40 percent in transport, and the remainder in telecommunication, environment and rural development. Karasawa added that Viet Nam is now operating 25 transport projects using the bank's ODA funding.

Japan is also Viet Nam's third largest foreign direct investment (FDI) supplier among 74 countries and territories worldwide that have invested in Viet Nam. Japan currently has 711 valid projects with a total registered capital of over 7 billion USD.

Japanese-invested projects are mainly concentrated in the industrial sector, particularly automobile and motorbike manufacturing, cement and steel production, and electronics. The scale and investment capital of these projects have been constantly increasing.

Statistics released by the General Customs Department showed that Japanese-invested projects now make up 20 percent of the total export turnover by foreign direct investment (FDI) enterprises, excluding the export value of crude oil.

Bilateral cooperation in culture, health care, education, training, labour and tourism has also developed. The number of Japanese visitors to Viet Nam increased from 142,000 in 2000 to 277,800 in the first nine months of 2006. The two countries signed a Viet Nam-Japan declaration on tourism cooperation, encouraging the flow of Japanese tourists to Viet Nam.

The two nations have also paid increasing attention to expanding cooperation in the field sof intellectual property right protection, science and technology, particularly information technology. (VNA)