Prime Minister’s Japan visit to deepen strategic partnership

Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc’s working visit to Japan from May 26-28 looks to further enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries.

During his stay, Prime Minister Phuc will attend the G7 Summit Japan 2016 in Mie prefecture at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe.

Establishing diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1963, Japan has become one of Vietnam’s leading important economic partners. The two sides upgraded their relations to strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in 2009, and to extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia in 2014.

Japan is now the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam , with two-way trade hitting over 28 billion USD last year and about 6.4 billion USD in the first quarter of this year. The country ranks second among 114 countries and territories worldwide investing in Vietnam, with over 3,000 direct investment projects worth over 39 billion USD as of April 20, 2016.

Japan remains the largest provider of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, making up about 30 percent of the total ODA committed by international communities for Vietnam .

Japan’s projects in Vietnam have proven effective, significantly contributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic, culture and tourism development.

Additionally, Japan is also one of the leading countries providing non-refundable assistance for Vietnam’s education sector, especially those for training high-quality human resources.

Agriculture between Vietnam and Japan recorded breakthroughs. The two sides signed a medium and long - term vision on Vietnam – Japan agricultural cooperation on the occasion of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s official visit to Japan in September last year.

Japan has also supported Vietnam in improving and protecting the environment in urban areas, and provided the country with preferential loans and technical assistance to deal with climate change.

Bonds between the two countries’ localities have been strongly enhanced, with 23 pairs of localities between the two nations having signed cooperation agreements.

Japan is the first G7 member country to have established a strategic partnership with Vietnam and recognised Vietnam ’s market economy.

At the G7 Summit Japan 2016, representatives from the world’s strongest industrial countries, namely France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and Canada, will focus their discussion on issues related to high-quality infrastructure development, regional security, promoting women’s rights, health care, and measures to boost cooperation within the forum to implement the UN 2030 Agenda and sustainable development goals.

Joining the event, Vietnam hopes to step up connections with G7 member states and call for their support for Vietnam and other Mekong subregion countries to deal with the negative impacts caused by climate change.-VNA