Official visit to Japan by President Vo Van Thuong

President Vo Van Thuong with other high-ranking officials at the meeting with Vietnamese Consulate General in Fukuoka

From November 26 to 30, 2023, City Party Secretary Nguyen Van Hieu accompanied President Vo Van Thuong on an official visit to Japan.

The high-ranking Vietnamese delegation met and talked with officials and staff of the Vietnamese Embassy in Tokyo and the Vietnamese Consulate General in Fukuoka, and also attended the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan with the presence of Japanese Crown Prince Akishino and Princess. In addition, President Vo Van Thuong also met the King and Queen of Japan and held talks with Prime Minister Kishida.

At the meeting, President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio reviewed the relationship between the two countries over the past 50 years and expressed satisfaction with the strong, comprehensive, and substantive development in all areas. The two countries' relationship is characterized by high political trust, close connection in the fields of economics, human resources, and local cooperation. President Vo Van Thuong said that the Vietnam - Japan relationship is a typical model of effective and sincere cooperation, with extremely open potential and prospects. On that basis, the two leaders agreed to upgrade the relationship between the two countries to "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world".

Based on the new relationship framework, the two leaders exchanged extensive opinions on Vietnam-Japan relations, and agreed on major directions and measures to deepen cooperation between the two countries, opening up a new period of stronger and more extensive development. In addition, the two leaders agreed to increase annual high-level exchanges and contacts in many flexible forms, on Party, State, Government, and National Assembly channels; continue to effectively deploy existing cooperative dialogue mechanisms between ministries and branches of the two countries and promote the establishment of new cooperation mechanisms; strengthen practical and effective cooperation in the field of defense based on the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam - Japan defense cooperation.

Regarding economic cooperation, the two leaders agreed to continue strengthening economic links, promoting cooperation to ensure economic security and expanding cooperation in new fields such as innovation, technology transfer, digital transformation, green transformation, etc.

Prime Minister Kishida Fumio affirmed to continue supporting Vietnam in industrialization, modernization, building an independent, self-reliant economy, deeply integrating internationally with the goal of becoming a developed country by 2045. Emphasizing that Japanese businesses consider Vietnam an important base in cooperation to ensure supply chains and the most promising investment destination among countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Prime Minister Kishida Fumio proposed that the two sides coordinate to improve efficiency and remove obstacles to speed up the implementation of cooperation projects using official development aid (ODA) and foreign direct investment (FDI) of Japan in Vietnam.

Appreciating the contribution of Japanese ODA to Vietnam's socio-economic development, President Vo Van Thuong suggested that Japan actively consider providing Vietnam with new generation ODA loans, with a focus on large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects in Vietnam (eg. roads, railways, energy), digital transformation, climate change response, and healthcare; promote Japanese enterprises to invest on a large scale in Vietnam and transfer technology in technology fields; strengthen high-quality agricultural cooperation, create favorable conditions for Vietnamese seafood and fruits to enter the Japanese market, including the green-skinned grapefruit and Vietnamese passion fruit.

To enhance mutual understanding and trust between the people of the two countries, contributing to the sustainable and long-term development of Vietnam - Japan cooperation, the two leaders agreed to strengthen human resources connections, local cooperation, tourism, cultural exchange, people-to-people exchange. President Vo Van Thuong proposed to consider organizing an annual "Local Cooperation Forum" in rotation in localities of the two countries and he hoped that Japan would continue to support Vietnam in training high-quality human resources, ease entry procedures, and soon issue electronic visas and multiple-entry visas for Vietnamese citizens entering Japan for personal purposes, and move toward visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens.

After the talks, the two leaders issued a Joint Statement on upgrading Vietnam - Japan relations to a comprehensive Strategic Partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world; jointly witnessed the signing of cooperation documents between ministries and branches of the two countries such as the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of energy conversion between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Note to exchange projects to improve the capacity to preserve and restore cultural heritage at the Vietnam National Museum of History, Note to exchange projects to improve the capacity of medical rehabilitation and ensure security healthcare during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam, Non-project Providing equipment for the Coast Guard Professional Training and Development Center, Implementation Agreement between the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology with the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) on supporting the operation of the Vietnam Space Center and effectively exploiting the LOTUSat-1 satellite in the period 2024-2029. On this occasion, Japan's Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) sent the two leaders the Policy Advisory report "Vietnam 2045".

Furthermore, within the framework of the official visit to Japan, the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation also visited and worked with Japan-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance, visited and spoke at the Japanese National Assembly, worked with the Governor, Chairman of the Fukuoka Council and leaders of the Kyushu region, visited Kyushu University and the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology Research and Development Center, etc.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu (middle) with other governmental leaders at the ceremony of 50^th anniversary of Vietnam – Japan diplomatic relations in Tokyo