"We're ready to offer any kind of assistance, including financing and personnel training," Naoshima told Dung.
– Edited By Chris Reed –
Japan is going all-out to market its nuclear power plants to Vietnam, seeing a successful outcome as crucial to future exports in the field.
Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Masayuki Naoshima arrived in this Southeast Asian nation on Tuesday. He was accompanied by the heads of eight private-sector firms, including Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Toshiba Corp.
Naoshima met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Wednesday, in addition to senior officials of the nation's Communist Party, to urge Vietnam to place orders with Japanese companies for two planned nuclear reactors. He touted Japan's advanced technologies and safety record in this field.
"We're ready to offer any kind of assistance, including financing and personnel training," Naoshima told Dung.
Dung limited his response to saying that Vietnam will seriously consider Japan's offer. Naoshima told reporters after the meeting that he hopes to achieve some progress at the bilateral summit meeting slated for October.
The two also discussed an accord that would restrict nuclear technology use to peaceful purposes, a prerequisite for Japan to conduct exports. Vietnam has already signed similar agreements with such rivals in the field as South Korea and France, but it is still in preliminary talks with Japan, according to Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). Dung was receptive to Naoshima's calls for the two sides to hold negotiations soon.
Vietnam plans to build 14 nuclear reactors by 2030, and Japan seeks to receive an order for two reactors slated to begin operating around 2021. Considering the lead time needed for construction, Vietnam is expected to award the order for the two reactors within a year or so.
With a large number of nuclear reactors being planned in Southeast Asia, METI is concerned that Japan will not even be considered by other nations in the region if it fails to win the order from Vietnam. The nuclear power market, including reactor construction and operation, is projected to grow to nearly 9 trillion yen (US$106.4 billion) in Southeast Asia and to almost 17 trillion yen in India by 2025, according to METI.
However, Japan faces intense competition. State-run companies lead efforts to win bids by South Korea, France and Russia, which are advertising low prices. And Russia won an order for an earlier phase of Vietnam's nuclear power project by bundling the deal with sales of military hardware.