Hanoi (VNA) - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception in Hanoi on July 25 for Special Envoy of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and former Japanese PM Suga Yoshihide, who is in Vietnam to mourn Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
PM Chinh expressed his deep thanks to Prime Minister Kishida and other Japanese leaders for sending condolences and a delegation led by Suga to attend the state funeral of the Party chief.
“This shows the affection and respect of the Government, Prime Minister and people of Japan towards General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and the comprehensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan,” he affirmed.
He shared that the General Secretary always attached great importance to and delivered many drastic instructions for the strong, comprehensive and sustainable development of the Vietnam-Japan friendship and cooperation.
Suga conveyed the deepest condolences from Prime Minister Kishida and the Japanese Government to the Party, State and people of Vietnam and the family of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
He also shared memorable memories of his meeting with General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong during his official visit to Vietnam in 2020 as Prime Minister of Japan.
Highlighting great strides in the two countries' relations in various fields in recent times with the successful organisation of activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the upgrade of bilateral ties in 2023, the former Japanese PM thanked Prime Minister Chinh for rastic directions for the development of the two countries’ relationship.
Japanese businesses are very interested in and wish to expand investment in Vietnam, he stated, adding that the Japanese Government is making efforts to build a favourable environment for foreign interns, including Vietnamese.
PM Chinh affirmed that Vietnam values and wishes to concretize the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Japan to inherit and promote the legacies left by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and late Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
Over the past time, the two countries have seen greater political trust, deeper economic relations, and closer people-to-people exchanges with the contributions of more than 560,000 Vietnamese people in Japan, he noted.
The Government leader asked Suga to continue supporting the promotion of bilateral relations in such fields as the exchange of all-level delegations and economic-investment cooperation.
Japan should provide new generation official development assistance (ODA) for strategic infrastructure projects, urban railways, and new fields such as digital transformation and green transition; expand trade cooperation and bring Vietnamese products such as grapefruit and other fruits into the Japanese market; and foster high-quality human resources cooperation and Japanese language teaching in Vietnam, he said.
The two sides need to boost locality-to-locality collaboration, cultural exchanges, and cooperation in responding to population aging, he stated, urging Japan to extend visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens to travel and work in the country./.
