Thong said that Can Tho city is a major agriculture hub of the Mekong Delta region with high agricultural productivity and quality.

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Overview of the meeting 
However, the prices of many local farm produces have yet to meet expectation, he said, adding that the city is also facing many difficulties in exporting products to certain markets due to poor processing technologies.

He suggested that Ambassador Umeda Kunio, through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), help the city to build a center for preserving and processing fruit using modern technology meeting international standards.

The Can Tho leader also asked the diplomat to assist Can Tho in accessing Japanese ODA to improve its cardiovascular hospital with 200 beds at a cost of about USD 32 million.

For his part, Ambassador Umeda Kunio said that he finds Japanese-funded projects in Can Tho are operating effectively with right purposes and expectation.

He noted that the proposal on cooperation in agricultural product processing and health care is in line with the two countries’ direction for cooperation, and promised to encourage Japanese firms to invest in Can Tho, as well as introduce Japanese localities to the city for establishing twinning relations.

According to Can Tho Department of External Relations, as of July 2017, Can Tho had six Japanese-funded projects worth USD 12.05 million, mostly in automobile, paper, computer software and food.

Source: VNA