Party leader starts official visit to Japan

General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong left Hanoi on September 15 for an official visit to Japan at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The Party leader’s entourage include To Huy Rua, Politburo member, Secretary of the CPV Central Committee, head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for Organisation and head of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group; Tran Quoc Vuong, Secretary of the CPV Central Committee and head of the CPV Central Committee’s Office; Pham Binh Minh, CPV Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and co-chair of the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee; Hoang Binh Quan, CPV Central Committee member, head of the CPV Central Committee’s Commission for External Affairs; and Vuong Dinh Hue, CPV Central Committee member and head of the CPV Central Committee’s Economic Commission, among others.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit is aimed at deepening the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.

In 2014, two-way trade exceeded 27.6 billion USD, of which Vietnam’s exports stood at more than 14.7 billion USD and imports at nearly 13 billion USD. In the first half of this year, the figure reached 13.9 billion USD.

With about 85,000 Vietnamese living in Japan and 11,200 Japanese in Vietnam, people-to-people and cultural exchange between the two countries is at its best ever.-VNA