Tokyo (VNA) – President of Vietnam Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister of Japan ShinzoAbe have reached high consensus on major orientations and concrete measures toadvance the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership in a morecomprehensive, practical and efficient manner.

At their talks in Tokyo on May 31 during President Quang’s State visit toJapan, the leaders noted with pleasure pragmatic and rapid developments of theVietnam-Japan relationship across fields, with many similarities in strategicinterests.

Theyagreed that 2018 will begin a new development phase of the bilateral ties.

PMAbe described President Quang’s visit as a very important political event in theVietnam-Japan relationship.

He said Japan highly values Vietnam’s socio-economic achievements as well as itsincreasingly important position and role in the region and the world at large.

“Japanattaches great importance to Vietnam in its foreign policy,” the hostemphasised.

PresidentQuang affirmed: ”Vietnam consistently considers Japan a leading, long-term partner.”

Heappreciated the country’s effective cooperation and support for Vietnam invarious realms.

Hostand guest consented to continue to enhance mutual political trust bymaintaining high-level visits and meetings, and intensifying cooperation andexchanges between the two parties and legislative bodies.

Theyalso agreed to beef up economic links in the spirit of mutual benefits, increaseJapan’s investments in Vietnam and join hands in major projects on high-qualityinfrastructure, energy, personnel training and climate change response, as wellas in implementing Vietnam’s industrialisation strategy.

Thetwo sides will  work together in order toraise bilateral trade revenue and facilitate the entry of Vietnamese seafoodand fruits like litchi and longan into the Japanese market.

PMSinzo Abe affirmed that Japan will continue supporting Vietnam insocio-economic development by providing official development assistance (ODA),strengthening cooperation in high quality infrastructure projects, andcommitting the provision of 16 billion JPY (142 million USD) in ODA for aproject to enhance vocational training capacity of Vietnam.

PresidentTran Dai Quang hailed contributions of Japanese ODA to Vietnam’s socio-economicdevelopment and the improvement of the country’s competitiveness. He agreed thatthe two countries need to coordinate closely in using the resource.

Bothsides concurred to foster affiliation in security and defence as well as inimplementing the declaration on joint vision in defence cooperation between thetwo countries.

Theywill bolster cooperation in various areas such as cyber security, defenceequipment, military medicine, UN peace-keeping operations, war consequencesettlement through landmine clearance and support of Agent Orange/dioxinvictims in Vietnam, improve the capacity of law enforcement at sea, and share  experience on maritime policy.

Theleaders lauded the launch of negotiations for an agreement on mutual criminal legalsupport and another on transfer of sentenced persons.

Vietnamand Japan agreed to promote coordination in education, human resourcestraining, agriculture, health care, labour, urban building and development,administrative reform, and partnership among localities.

PMShinzo Abe pledged to assist Vietnam in high-ranking official training,administrative reform, while continuing receiving apprentices from Vietnam.

The leaders affirmedthat the two countries would closely coordinate in organising activitiescelebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties, as well aspromoting culture, sport and people-to-people exchanges, towards  further deepening mutual trust and understandingbetween their people

They stressed that this is an important foundation for sustainable developmentof the Vietnam-Japan relations in the future.

President Quang asserted Vietnam’s consistent policy of actively coordinatingwith international partners, contributing to maintaining peace, stability andcooperation in the region and the world.

The two sides agreed to enhance their coordination at global and regionalforums in the issues of their common concern.

Talking about the Korean Peninsula issue, the leaders affirmed the support forefforts for peace, stability and denuclearization in the peninsula, andstressed the importance to resolve disagreements by diplomatic and peacefulmeasures.

Regarding the East Sea issue, the two sides agreed on the importance to ensurepeace, security, navigation and aviation freedom and safety in the sea, and the peaceful settlement of disputes bypeaceful means without the use of force or threat to use force, exercisingself-restraint and avoiding all actions that would harm trust, and strictlyabiding by international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS).

They also underlined the need to respect diplomatic and legal processes, fully implement the Declaration on theConduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and strive to reach a framework of aCode of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in a practical and effective manner withlegal effectiveness.

At the end of the talks, President Tran Dai Quang and PM Shinzo Abewitnessed the signing of four documents between the two countries’ ministriesand sectors.

The documents include a diplomatic note on a non-refundable aid worth 745million JPY (equivalent to 6.77 million USD) for human resources developmentscholarships; a diplomatic note on a non-refundable aid worth 1.96 billion JPY(equivalent to 17.8 million USD) for the upgrade of downgraded water drainageditches in Ho Chi Minh City; a memorandum of understanding on cooperation inland and water resource management, measurement, mapping and information ongeographical space, hydro-metrology and remote sensing between the Ministry ofNatural Resources and Environment of Vietnam and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism of Japan; and the minutes on cooperation on urbanconstruction and development in the 2018-2021 between Vietnam’s Ministry ofConstruction and Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport andTourism.

On the occasion, the two sides adopted the joint statement on the State visitto Japan of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.


Late on the day,President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse attended the official banquet hosted byPrime Minister Shinzo Abe and his spouse. -VNA