Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan will pay an official visit to Vietnam on Oct. 31 after attending the 13 th ASEAN-Japan Summit and related summits in Hanoi at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
This will be the first official visit to Vietnam by Naoto Kan as Prime Minister of Japan.
The visit is considered as an opportunity to boost economic cooperation in trade and investment, as well as strengthen coordination between the two countries in regional and international issues of mutual concerns, in furthering the Vietnam-Japan strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia .
Japan and Vietnam set up diplomatic ties on Sept. 21, 1973. Since then, relations between the two countries have been constantly boosted through numerous visits by their leaders and active cooperation in economics, culture-education, tourism and labour.
In 2002, the two countries’ leaders agreed to build relations between Vietnam and Japan following the motto “Reliable partnership and long-lasting stability”.
In October 2006, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung paid an official visit to Japan , opening up a new period for development in the two countries’ relations, “Toward strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia ”.
During the State-level visit to Japan in November 2007, State President Nguyen Minh Triet and then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda signed a Joint statement on deepening the Vietnam-Japan ties and a cooperation progamme towards strategic partnership.
During the official visit to Japan in April 2009, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and then Prime Minister Aso Taro agreed to issue the Joint Statement on the Vietnam-Japan strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia .
Vietnam considers Japan as a leading economic partner. The two sides gave each other most-favoured nation tax rates from 1999.
Trade turnover between the two countries has increased strongly and was valued at 9.93 billion USD in 2006, 13.76 billion USD in 2009 and 9.02 billion USD in the first seven months of this year.
Japan ranks third among 92 foreign investors in Vietnam with 1,259 projects having a registered capital of over 20.5 billion USD.
In June 2008, the two sides started the implementation of the third phase of the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative to improve the investment environment and raise Vietnam ’s competitive capacity, as well as boost the development triangle and the East-West corridor.
On Oct. 1, 2009, the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) took effect, joining the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Partnership Agreement to create a legal basis for economic and trade development between the two countries.
Moreover, Japan has been the largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Vietnam and has pledged to maintain ODA at high levels.
In the 2009 fiscal year, Japan provided 145.6 billion JPY in ODA to Vietnam , the highest level so far, which included 47 billion JPY as emergency aid for economic stimulus. The country also pledged to continue to cooperate with Vietnam to carry out large infrastructure projects.
Japan is also one of the largest providers of grant aid to Vietnam ’s education sector. The two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Japan ’s help to Vietnam in training 1,000 Doctors of Philosophy by 2020.
Japan will invite 2,000 Vietnamese high-school students to Japan to participate in various programmes during the next five years./.
This will be the first official visit to Vietnam by Naoto Kan as Prime Minister of Japan.
The visit is considered as an opportunity to boost economic cooperation in trade and investment, as well as strengthen coordination between the two countries in regional and international issues of mutual concerns, in furthering the Vietnam-Japan strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia .
Japan and Vietnam set up diplomatic ties on Sept. 21, 1973. Since then, relations between the two countries have been constantly boosted through numerous visits by their leaders and active cooperation in economics, culture-education, tourism and labour.
In 2002, the two countries’ leaders agreed to build relations between Vietnam and Japan following the motto “Reliable partnership and long-lasting stability”.
In October 2006, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung paid an official visit to Japan , opening up a new period for development in the two countries’ relations, “Toward strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia ”.
During the State-level visit to Japan in November 2007, State President Nguyen Minh Triet and then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda signed a Joint statement on deepening the Vietnam-Japan ties and a cooperation progamme towards strategic partnership.
During the official visit to Japan in April 2009, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh and then Prime Minister Aso Taro agreed to issue the Joint Statement on the Vietnam-Japan strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia .
Vietnam considers Japan as a leading economic partner. The two sides gave each other most-favoured nation tax rates from 1999.
Trade turnover between the two countries has increased strongly and was valued at 9.93 billion USD in 2006, 13.76 billion USD in 2009 and 9.02 billion USD in the first seven months of this year.
Japan ranks third among 92 foreign investors in Vietnam with 1,259 projects having a registered capital of over 20.5 billion USD.
In June 2008, the two sides started the implementation of the third phase of the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative to improve the investment environment and raise Vietnam ’s competitive capacity, as well as boost the development triangle and the East-West corridor.
On Oct. 1, 2009, the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) took effect, joining the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Partnership Agreement to create a legal basis for economic and trade development between the two countries.
Moreover, Japan has been the largest donor of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Vietnam and has pledged to maintain ODA at high levels.
In the 2009 fiscal year, Japan provided 145.6 billion JPY in ODA to Vietnam , the highest level so far, which included 47 billion JPY as emergency aid for economic stimulus. The country also pledged to continue to cooperate with Vietnam to carry out large infrastructure projects.
Japan is also one of the largest providers of grant aid to Vietnam ’s education sector. The two countries have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Japan ’s help to Vietnam in training 1,000 Doctors of Philosophy by 2020.
Japan will invite 2,000 Vietnamese high-school students to Japan to participate in various programmes during the next five years./.
