Japan to fund robotics training facility in HCM City
The Japanese government has recently approved a JPY100 million (US$887,000) project to establish a robotics training facility in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s largest economic hub.
The facility, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) from downtown Ho Chi Minh City, will train a pool of engineers in the fields of automation and robotics. It will also help to transfer cutting-edge technology from Japan to local enterprises.
The facility is expected to boost Vietnam’s supporting industries and reduce its reliance on imported parts, given that the country has set a target to eliminate tariff barriers within the ASEAN region in 2018 and become an industrialized nation by 2020, said Toshifumi Sakai from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The investment of 100 million yen, of which nearly 41% is non-refundable, will be spent on four training centers and four industrial robots.
Details of when the facility will be completed and be put into operation have yet to be announced.
Ho Chi Minh City is aiming to become a major economic center in Southeast Asia. The city has set a target of 6.5% productivity growth for 2020 from 5.6% in 2016.
