President Vo Van Thuong and his wife depart for Japan (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – President Vo Van Thuong’sofficial visit to Japan is not only an important highlight of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations, butis also expected to open up a new and good period in the bilateral ties, accordingto experts and scholars.
President Thuong’s visit from November 27-30 is his firstofficial visit to Japan as the head of state, and the fourth by a VietnameseState leader since the two countries set up their diplomatic relations.
It is taking place in the context that Vietnam and Japanhave enjoyed fruitful cooperation in all fields.
Japan has been Vietnam’s leading economic partner, thebiggest ODA provider, the second largest partner in labour, the third greatestinvestor, and the fourth biggest trade partner.
To date, Vietnamese and Japanese localities have set upabout 100 pairs of twinning relations, while bilateral partnership ineducation, culture, art, sports and people-to-people exchange have bustled.
According to Ambassador Nguyen Phu Binh, former Deputy Minister of ForeignAffairs, former Ambassador to Japan, and Vice President of the Vietnam-JapanFriendship Association, since the two countries set up theirdiplomatic relations, their ties have been continuously reinforced anddeveloped on the foundation of high political trust and effective economiccooperation.
The two sides have developed their relationshipfrom a reliable, long-term stable partnership in 2002 to a strategicpartnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in 2009, and an extensivestrategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in 2014, he noted.
Vietnam and Japan can supplement each other’s interest, said Binh, underliningthat Japan can provide ODA, FDI, technology, human resources trainingassistance, and development experience to Vietnam, while Vietnam is ready to supplylabour to Japanese firms as well as materials for their production.
Dr Tomotaka Shoji, Director of the Regional ResearchDivision at the National Institute for Defence Studies under the JapaneseMinistry of Defence, has said that Vietnam-Japan relations have potential forfurther development.
He said that the first strength is economic collaboration,emphasising that bilateral cooperation in this field has obtained strongprogress.
Ambassador Binh said he hopes during this visit, PresidentThuong and Japanese leaders will discuss measures to reinforce thealready sound relations and expand their collaboration to new areas of mutualinterest such as climate change, green transition, and digital transformation.
Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Taki said that President Thuong’s visit sends out the message that cooperation between Japan and Vietnam is not only abilateral relationship but also contributes to peace and prosperity of theregion and the world.
According to Foreign Ministry’s Spokesperson Pham Thu Hang, during the visit, PresidentThuong is scheduled to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and meet the Japanese Emperor and Empress, and high-ranking leaders of thehost country. He will also deliver a speech at the Japanese NationalDiet, attend a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Vietnam-Japandiplomatic relations, and engage in other important activities.
♌ Ambassador Binh held that President Thuong’s delivery of a speech at the JapaneseNational Diet is a special event as each year, the Japanese legislature invites only one or two foreign national leaders to do so. This will be a goodchance for Vietnam to spread important messages on bilateral ties to thepoliticians and the public in Japan as well as the world./.
