Vietnam and Japan are further cementing their strategic partnership across a variety of sectors.
Relations between Vietnam and Japan are at their zenith with the last week visit by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. The minister met with senior Vietnamese officials where discussions focused on adding more meat to the bones of the extensive strategic partnership.
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Last week saw an official visit to Vietnam by Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida. He met with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, President Truong Tan Sang, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Pham Binh Minh and Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh.
As part of his visit, Kishida attended the sixth meeting of the Japan-Vietnam Co-operation Committee.
“During the sixth meeting of the Japan-Vietnam Co-operation Committee, the two sides discussed ways to boost bilateral trade including agricultural products, and also agreed to increase Japan’s investment into Vietnam via the implementation of the fifth stage of the Vietnam-Japan Initiative on developing Vietnam’s support industries,” Minh said at a press conference after the meeting.
The two sides also agreed to boost high-level visits and hold a strategic dialogue between foreign ministers in autumn. They also discussed measures to further rivet co-operation in infrastructure construction, and implement public-private partnerships in Can Tho and a Vietnam-Japan university.
During his reception for Kishida, Dung spoke highly the outcomes of the 6th meeting and affirmed that Vietnam always expected to strengthen relations with Japan.
Dung suggested that the two countries beef up co-operation in various areas, ranging from trade and investment to national defense and security.
He hoped that Japan would continue supporting Vietnam’s development process, including official development assistance (ODA). Vietnam pledges to coordinate closely with the Japanese side for effective use and management of the ODA capital.
During the visit, Kishida and Vinh signed a diplomatic note of exchange for a grant related to maritime security. Kishida and Vietnam’s Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan also inked a diplomatic note of exchange related to grant-funding for human resource training under the Japan Development Scholarship Programme.
Kishida said Vietnam continued to be Japan’s most important ODA partner, and went on to announce that Japan had pledged to provide Vietnam with a $5 million non-refundable aid to buy six second-hand vessels and maritime security and surveillance equipment.
Prior to this visit, Kishida told a press conference in Japan that he hoped to “use this visit to advance co-operation with Vietnam in many areas, including the economy, politics and security, beginning with strengthening ties in the area of maritime security, and people-to-people exchanges, in order to further strengthen the inclusive and extensive strategic partnership with Vietnam.”
In March this year, Vietnam and Japan raised their bilateral strategic partnership to an ‘extensive strategic partnership’.
Under the new co-operation framework, the two sides agreed to boost visits and contacts between the high-level leaders as well as to further strengthen exchanges between the political parties and parliaments of both countries.
The two sides also agreed to further cement co-operation in education and training, culture, justice and defence. Japan committed to support Vietnam in training for its maritime law enforcement agencies.
Japan is the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam, with two-way trade reaching over $24 billion in 2013 and nearly $10.7 billion in the first five months of this year.
Last year, Japan topped the list of 54 countries and territories investing in Vietnam with a total newly registered and additional capital coming to almost $5.8 billion. By June 20, 2014, Japan had 2,313 valid projects worth $35.74 billion in Vietnam.
Being the largest provider of ODA to Vietnam, Japan currently accounts for 30 per cent of Vietnam’s total ODA, having provided about $21 billion between 1992-2013.
By Thanh Tung
Đăng ký: VietNam News