Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong (R) persents the appointment decision to doctor Nagato Natsume (Photo: VNA)
Tokyo (VNA) –Japanese doctor Nagato Natsume has been appointed Honorary Consul of Vietnam inAichi prefecture of the Northeast Asian nation.
Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuonghanded over the national flag, emblem of Vietnam and the appointment decisionto Nagato Natsume on April 8.
The presentation ceremony was also attended byChairman of the People’s Committee of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen ThanhPhong, former Vietnamese Vice President Truong My Hoa, Aichi Governor HideakiOmura, Mayor of Nagoya city Takashi Kawamura and other officials of the twocountries.
Nagato Natsume, Director of the JapaneseCleft Palate Foundation and Secretary General of the International CleftLip and Palate Foundation, first came to Vietnam in 1992. He and theJapanese Cleft Palate Foundation have assisted clef lip and palate surgeriesfor Vietnamese children and carried out charitable activities helping enhancethe two countries’ relations.
Ambassador Cuong said the appointment is theVietnamese State and Government’s recognition of the doctor’s contributions tobilateral ties.
He expressed his hope that as the HonoraryConsul, Nagato Natsume will continue helping to enhance connections betweenAichi and Vietnamese localities, as well as between Japan and Vietnam.
Natsume told Vietnam News Agency that over thelast 26 years, he has visited Vietnam 200 times and organised more than 4,000cleft lip and palate surgeries in the country. He hopes that in the future,more Vietnamese people will come to work in Japan and more Japanese firms willdo business in the Southeast Asian country.
He noted Vietnam-Japan relations areparticularly close and he will exert every effort to contribute to the ties.
Also at the ceremony, Ambassador Cuong offeredcongratulations on the establishment of the Vietnam-Japan FriendshipAssociation in Aichi, which coincided with the 45th founding anniversary ofdiplomatic ties between the two nations.
He said the Japan-Vietnam relationship is at itsbest stage, evidenced by many mutual visits of their leaders, especially avisit to Vietnam by the Japanese Emperor and Empress in 2017.Locality-to-locality ties have also been strengthened, including between Aichiand HCM City.
The ambssador asked the friendship associationto work harder to promote relations between Aichi and Vietnamese localities andassist Vietnamese people in the prefecture.
For his part, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omuracongratulated Natsume on his appointment and the association’s foundation,voicing his belief that these moves will contribute to cooperation betweenAichi and Vietnam.
He noted that 200 Aichi businesses are investingin Vietnam while about 23,000 Vietnamese people are living in this prefecture.-VNA
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Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong (R) persents the appointment decision to doctor Nagato Natsume (Photo: VNA) 
