Hanoi (VNA) - Late historian and People’s Teacher Phan Huy Le has beenposthumously awarded the Certificate of Merit from the Japanese ForeignMinister Kono Taro, in recognition of his great contributions to the promotionVietnam-Japan academic exchange.

Speaking at a ceremony in Hanoi on July 17, Japanese Ambassador to VietnamUmeda Kunio said Le is not only a top Vietnamese historian, but also aknowledgeable scholar of Japan-Vietnam relations, and had made greatcontributions to boosting friendship, trust and mutual understanding betweenthe two countries.

Le’s contributions span a wide range of fields, including his role as a bridgeas he was the Vice President of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Association in1987.

He participated in many cultural exchange events, including academic researchactivities of the two countries. The professor made great contributions toclarifying historical ties between Hoi An ancient town and Japan from the 16thcentury, contributing to building the foundation for the current friendship andrelations between the two nations.

As President of the Vietnam Association of Historical Sciences, Lealso made significant contributions to academic exchanges betweenVietnam and Japan, as well as in training Vietnamese researchers on Japan.

He successfully led the Vietnam-Japan conference on the 100th anniversary of the movement of Dong Du (Eastern-Country Study Tour) in 2005,and activities to mark the 70 years of the death of the movement’s mastermind PhanBoi Chau, as well as the 100th anniversary of the death of Chau’s Japaneseassociate Dr. Asaba Sakitaro in 2010. Thanks to these events, the two countrieshave known about the movement as well as the friendship between the two men,which is also recognized as one of the important achievements in the history ofrelations between the two countries.

Le paid attention to developing major of Japanese Studies after he was nominatedas Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities under the VietnamNational University in 1995.   He has made a great contribution to trainingresearchers in Japan and developing the high-quality education on Japan inVietnam.

Accordingto Hoang Nhu Lan, Le’s spouse, her husband was aware of the importance ofcultural diversity and international academic cooperation. For the promotion ofinternational exchanges in the academic field in Vietnam, he always appreciatedthe role of cooperation with Japan.

Since the mid-1980s, he built academic cooperation with top Japanese professors,Lan said, adding that over the past 40 years, as a scholar, Professor Le contributedto deepening mutual understanding between the two countries.-VNA