Hanoi (VNA) - Shimizu Akira, Chief Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Vietnam Office, was honoured with the insignia “For the development of Vietnam's transport sector” by the Ministry of Transport (MoT) on March 23.
Addressing the event, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang thanked Japan for its support for transport infrastructure development in Vietnam.
Official development assistance (ODA) projects funded by the Government of Japan through JICA are all large and important, making significant contributions to the country’s socio-economic development and changes in its transport infrastructure, he said.
The minister also thanked and acknowledged the efforts of Akira, who has made great contributions to Vietnam - Japan cooperation, especially in the field of transportation, during his tenure in Vietnam, noting that the Japanese official has helped remove difficulties in the implementation of many infrastructure projects using Japanese ODA in the Southeast Asian country, such as Da Nang - Quang Ngai and Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressways.
For his part, Akira thanked the MoT and relevant Vietnamese agencies for closely work with the JICA Vietnam Office and himself in carrying out Japanese-funded projects in Vietnam.
He expressed his belief that his successor - Sugano Yuichi - will continue to support and cooperate closely with the MoT in the coming time./