Vietnam, Japan hold cultural exchange night

Da Nang (VNA) – A cultural exchange night between Vietnam and Japan took place in the central coastal city of Da Nang on January 12 with the attendance of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan Nikai Toshihiro.

The delegation of Japan to the event is the biggest ever of its kind with more than 1,000 members who are parliamentarians, senior officials, representatives of localities, and businesses.

 

[Prime Minister welcomes Secretary-General of Japan’s ruling party]

Addressing the exchange, PM Phuc described the event as a vivid demonstration of the strong and comprehensive development of the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership.

He spoke highly of the significant contributions of the two countries’ parliamentary friendship groups and particularly LDP Secretary General Nikai, to promoting the bilateral friendship and cooperation.

Vietnam and Japan share a lot of common interests and the two economies are supplementary rather than competitive, he said, noting that Japan is now the biggest provider of official development assistance (ODA), the second largest investor, the third biggest tourism partner, and the fourth biggest trade partner of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese community in Japan has become the third largest foreign community in Japan with nearly 400,000 people. In 2019, more than 900,000 Japanese tourists came to Vietnam with Hoi An ancient city in central Quang Nam province being one of the most popular places. Also in the year, over 400,000 Vietnamese visited Japan.

The PM said Vietnam wants to strengthen economic connectivity with Japan through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which will help businesses of the two sides to cooperate in investment and transfer of technology as well as develop the market and join the global value chain.

The Southeast Asian country also wants to strengthen connections with the Japanese government, parliament, ministries, localities, and people via specific cooperation projects such as the Vietnam-Japan University, he added.

Stronger cooperation and connectivity will help Vietnam and Japan have more power to bring the bilateral extensive strategic partnership to a new height for the interests of the two peoples as well as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and beyond, the PM said.

For his part, Nikai Toshihiro, who is also Chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, said Vietnam and Japan boast long-standing relations, to which PM Phuc had made an important contribution.

He expressed his pleasure at the two countries’ growing ties in all fields. In 2019, more than 1,400,000 people attended exchange activities between the two countries. More than 370,000 Vietnamese people are living and studying in Japan, serving as an important bridge to promote the two relations’ relations, he said.

At the cultural exchange night, the two sides announced the establishment of the Japanese Embassy’s office in Da Nang city./.