Friendship organisations of Vietnam and Japan should have more creative activities to promote mutual understanding and advance strategic partnership between the two countries, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan has said.

Receiving delegates to the Vietnam-Japan friendship festival in Hanoi on September 20, Vice President Doan showed her happiness to greet Japanese friends, who once took street to demonstrate support to Vietnam’s struggle for national liberation in the 1960s.

She said she realises that both sides are working together in matching their differences while upholding respective strengths to achieve mutual development.

Political trust has laid a firm foundation for the two countries’ closer and result-oriented cooperation in various fields, Doan said.

The Japanese delegates lauded the festival, the first of its kind to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties, for offering people to gain deeper understanding and fostering a strong bond for the two nations’ steady friendship and cooperation.

The same day, the Japanese delegates attended a seminar on strengthening the friendship between Vietnamese and Japanese people, which formed part of the festival.

It heard that the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association, set up in 1955, has 20 branches operating in 20 Japanese cities and prefectures.

To intensify people exchanges, Takashima Kamata, President of the Okinawa-Vietnam Friendship Organisation suggested the two peoples organise regular cultural exchange events, trade promotion and language teaching courses.

Vice Chairman of the Da Nang city’s Union of Friendship Organisations Trinh Thanh Sau spoke of the city’s cooperation with seven Japanese cities and prefecture, namely Kawasaki, Sakai, Mitsuke, Nagasaki, Yokohama, Nagoya and Shuman, and its attraction to Japanese investors.

Vietnamese and Japanese participants agreed that the long-lasting economic and cultural relations as well as cultural similarities help further mutual understanding and trust and expand cooperation.

On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties, Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO) Vu Xuan Hong presented a Friendship Order to President of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association Prof. Furuta Motoo.

Several Japanese individuals and organisations were presented with the insignia “For the Friendship and Peace among Nations” and the Certificate of Merit of the VUFO for the contributions to strengthening the friendship between Vietnamese and Japanese people.-VNA