Hanoi (VNA) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe concludedhis official two-day visit to Vietnam on January 17.
During the stay, the Japanese PM held talks with his Vietnamesecounterpart Nguyen Xuan Phuc, had meetings with Party General Secretary NguyenPhu Trong, President Tran Dai Quang and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen ThiKim Ngan.
Abe also co-chaired the Vietnam-Japan business talk with PM Phuc, metwith head of the Party Central Committee’s Organisation Commission and chair ofthe Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group Pham Minh Chinh, theDirector of the Vietnam National University-Hanoi and lecturers and students ofthe Vietnam-Japan University.
During meetings, the two sides reached consensus on major orientationsand specific measures to further develop the bilateral strategic partnership ina comprehensive, substantive and effective manner in the time ahead.
The two sides agreed to continue enhancing political trust through maintaininghigh-level visits and contacts and optimizing dialogue mechanisms. They vowedto collaborate closely for the success of the Vietnam visit by the JapaneseEmperor and Empress this spring. They also consented to strengthen substantive cooperationin security-defence, including in the areas of demining and capacity enhancing forlaw enforcement at sea.
The two sides achieved a common awareness about promoting connectivitybetween the two economies through encouraging investment, trade, ODA andcooperation in mutually supplementary fields such as agriculture and labour.
PM Abe announced Japan’s approval of the import of red-flesh dragon fruitfrom Vietnam while PM Phuc announced Vietnam’s licensing of the import of pearfrom Japan.
Japan pledged to continue to assist Vietnam’s socio-economic developmentthrough the provision of ODA, with a commitment of an additional 123 billionJPY (1.05 billion USD) in ODA loans in the 2016 fiscal year.
Discussing international and regional issues of mutual concern, the twosides affirmed their close coordination at international and regional forums.They agreed on the importance of ensuring peace, security, safety and freedomof navigation and overflight, urging related sides to refrain from actions thatcan cause tension and militarization resulting in change of the status quo inthe East Sea. The two sides called for the settlement of disputes by peacefulmeasures with full respect for diplomatic and legal process, without the use ofor threat to use force, while obeying international law, especially the 1982 UNConvention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Partiesin the East Sea (DOC), and working for an early formation of a Code of Conducton the East Sea (COC).
The two PMs witnessed the signingof several documents on cooperation.-VNA
Japan Prime Minister Abe begins Vietnam visit
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe begins on January 16 a two-day visit to Vietnam, the last leg of his first trip abroad in 2017.