Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam has always been one of the few countries able to controlthe spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the Government’s efforts anddetermination as well as the application of many flexible measures, said Kazunori Sudo, General Director of Hitachi Asia (Vietnam).

Kazunori Sudo made the remarks in aninterview with the Vietnam News Agency (VNA). The following is the full text ofthe interview.

Q: The COVID-19 pandemic hasrecently become more complicated in Vietnam. How do you assess the efforts madeby the Vietnamese Government to contain the hot spots and prevent the spread ofthe virus?

Vietnam is now facing the fourth wave of COVID-19 infections,primarily caused by the variant first found in India. The resurgence is on abigger scale and more complicated than previous outbreaks. However, I thinkthat Vietnam has always been one of the few countries able to control thespread of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to the Government’s efforts anddetermination as well as the application of many flexible measures. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought a lot of difficulties,challenges for economies around the world, including Vietnam. Vietnam’s GDP growth reached 5.64 percent in the first six months of the year, this testifies to the judiciousness of theVietnamese Government’s “twin target” of concurrently fighting the pandemic andprotecting people’s health, while boosting socio-economic recovery anddevelopment. To help achieve the “twin target” of the Vietnamese Government,Hitachi has strictly followed the Government instruction for pandemic measures,such as, the 5K requirements, working online during social distancing,shortening work hours, halving the number of workers at factories, conductinghealth screenings, and making health declarations. Hitachi experts havefollowed the rules during the quarantine period and have been doing testing asset by the Ministry of Health to minimize virus transmission and guarantee thebackup force for production and business activities.

Q: The national COVID-19 VaccineFund made debut on June 5, aiming to mobilize resources for the purchaseand import of vaccines as well as for the research, development, andproduction of domestic vaccines. What do you think about this initiative?

ꦡ The pandemic has seriously impacted every socio-economic aspect.To help achieve the “twin target”, on the evening of June 5, Prime MinisterPham Minh Chinh called on every business and individual to join hands with theGovernment to donate to the vaccine fund with the goal to secure vaccines assoon as possible for all people living in Vietnam. Hitachi highly values theGovernment’s wise policy and efforts. In the context of modest economicconditions compared to other countries, the government wants to carry out thevaccine strategy towards the goal of herd immunity - an effective solution tocurb the spread of the virus. To that end, it is necessary to mobilize largeresources from the budget and society.

The Hitachi Group has eight corporations, and 20 offices andfactories with about 4,000 employees in Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, BacNinh, Hai Duong, and Binh Duong, operating in various fields, including industrialelectrical systems, electronic and hi-tech cables, transport, wastewatertreatment, and especially information technology development and digitaltransformation.

🌠 Over the past few days, many enterprises, and people, depending ontheir personal capacity, have voluntarily donated to the COVID-19 vaccine fund,as well as the COVID-19 prevention and control fund. The responsibility ofenterprises, both domestic and foreign, has been to jointly contribute toovercome these trying times together for the good of the community, andsociety. To support this initiative of the Vietnamese Government, Hitachi plansto donate 839 million VND to the vaccine fund. 790 million VND has been committedfrom Hitachi and 49 million VND has been donated from our Employees in Hitachi Cable Hai Duongthrough the Trade Union. Hitachi hopes that by contributing to this fund in thelocalities they are based in, the situation will improve swiftly, andproduction, and business will be resumed soon.

As General Director of Hitachi - Asia (Vietnam), I believe in the“twin target” strategy, and sincerely hope that Hitachi’s efforts to supportthe socio-economic development and State budget plans of Vietnam in the lastsix months of 2021 will be successful./.