Hanoi (VNA) - Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on the morning of May 2 received Japanese Prime Minister and Liberal Democratic Party President Takaichi Sanae during her official visit to Vietnam.
The host leader welcomed PM Takaichi’s visit, saying it comes at an important time as both countries have new leadership teams working to advance their socio-economic goals. He expressed satisfaction with the strong momentum in Vietnam–Japan relations more than two years after their upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.
The Vietnamese leader highlighted the substantive and wide-ranging cooperation between the two sides, underpinned by high political trust, effective coordination and the establishment of multiple dialogue mechanisms across economic, diplomatic, security and defence fields. He also noted the deepening economic ties, closer human resource cooperation and the expansion into new areas such as digital transformation, green transition, science and technology, and innovation.
For her part, PM Takaichi said she was pleased to revisit Vietnam for the first time as Prime Minister and to meet the Vietnamese top leader again following their phone talks in mid-April.
She congratulated To Lam on his re-election as Party chief and his election as State President, and congratulated Vietnam on the new leadership.
PM Takaichi affirmed Japan’s support for Vietnam’s reform efforts and economic self-reliance, voicing confidence in the country’s continued achievements in the coming years.
Welcoming the robust development of bilateral ties, she stressed Japan’s desire to work closely with Vietnam to advance the Free and Open Indo-Pacific vision, while continuing to accompany and support Vietnam in achieving its development goals in a new era. She also called for close coordination to elevate the Vietnam–Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to new heights.
General Secretary and President Lam affirmed Vietnam’s consistent foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, resilience, peace, cooperation, and development, multilateralisation and diversification, alongside its “Four No’s” defence policy. He spotlighted Vietnam’s commitment to deepening and enhancing the effectiveness of relations with partners, always regarding Japan as one of its most important, reliable, and long-term strategic partners.
He outlined six major orientations to foster bilateral strategic cooperation, including enhancing political trust and coordination across Party, Government, and local channels; consolidating substantive and effective national defence-security ties; strengthening economic linkages to ensure economic, food, and energy security, while expanding into such new areas as digital transformation, energy transition, green transition, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence (AI), which match Japan’s strengths in sci-tech.
The host also urged advancing sci-tech collaboration through quality workforce training and joint research, as well as joint work in labour, education, local partnerships, culture, tourism, and people-to-people exchanges.
PM Takaichi stressed the importance of Vietnam–Japan economic cooperation to ensure economic security, contributing to stronger strategic autonomy and resilience for both countries. She called for closer coordination in such strategic sectors as semiconductors, high technology, digital transformation, green transition, public–private partnerships in strengthening energy and mineral supply chains, AI and space, as well as the rollout of projects under the Partnership on Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia (POWERR ASIA) initiative proposed by Japan at the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) Plus Online Summit.
She committed to launching the first POWERR ASIA project by supporting crude oil procurement for the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Complex to ensure it operates at full capacity. She also expressed interest in advancing teamwork in energy, gas-fired power, and strategic mineral projects.
The guest further reaffirmed Japan’s commitment to continuing all possible support for the nearly 700,000 Vietnamese citizens living, studying, and working in Japan, as part of efforts to build an orderly and harmonious society that coexists with foreign residents. She agreed that both sides need to strengthen consular exchanges, including information sharing and coordination on consular matters, and mutual support in crime prevention as well.
Host and guest pledged to work closely together at global and regional forums such as the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the Mekong sub-regional frameworks. Against a complex global backdrop weighing on economic and energy security, they committed to contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in the region and beyond.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese leader extended an invitation to the Japanese Emperor and Empress to visit Vietnam at an early date. PM Takaichi, in turn, invited the host and his spouse to visit Japan at the earliest./.
