The central Thua Thien-Hue province of Vietnam and Japan’s Kyoto prefecture have issued a joint statement on the establishment of friendly and cooperative relations between the two localities.

The document was signed at a working session between Chairman of the Thua Thien-Hue provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Cao and Kyoto prefecture’s Governor Keiji Yamada on November 22 during the latter’s visit to the Vietnamese locality.

Under the statement, the two sides committed to strengthening the relations for mutual benefits while respecting each locality’s characteristics, exchanging information and cooperating in education-training, preservation of cultural values, tourism and trade.

According to Chairman Nguyen Van Cao, Japan is the most important cooperation partner and ODA supplier of Thua Thien-Hue.

The country has so far provided 500 million USD in ODA for the province, he said, adding that eight Japanese partners have implemented 20 cooperative projects, mostly in culture, in the province.

The two sides have also enjoyed good relations in education and training, human resource training and health care, Cao said.

The Chairman said he hopes to receive Japanese ODA for the building of an international university in the province and suggested that the two localities focus their cooperation on cultural heritage preservation, cultural exchange, and training in the time ahead, in the framework of the cooperation agreement signed in February this year.

Governor Keiji Yamada pledged to implement many activities with an aim to sign an agreement on cooperation between Thua Thien-Hue and Kyoto next year.-VNA