Hanoi (VNA)🔜 – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh hosted a reception in Hanoi onMarch 4 for Takebe Tsutomu, Special Advisor to the Japan-Vietnam ParliamentaryFriendship Alliance, who is visiting Vietnam in his capacity as Honorary Chairmanof the organising board of the ninth Japan-Vietnam Festival in Ho Chi Minh City.

PM Chinh hailed the festival as the first majorevent during the inaugural year of the Vietnam-Japan comprehensivestrategic partnership, which attracted nearly 400,000 visitors onMarch 9-10. He thanked Takebe for his wholehearted,inspirational and constructive contributions to fostering the Vietnam-Japanfriendly cooperation, especially regarding the construction of theVietnam-Japan University (VJU). The PM wished that Takebe would continue to help with concretising the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership through specific projects andprogrammes across various sectors; stepping up educational cooperation, includingupgrading the Japanese Culture and Language Centre at Ha Long University into acentre for Japanese studies, improving the VJU's training quality and openinga semiconductor engineering faculty; and strengthening collaboration with theNational Innovation Centre, potentially through the annual organisation ofthe Japan-Vietnam education festival in October. He suggested that the special advisor promote local cooperationin investment, trade and tourism alongside cultural and people-to-peopleexchanges, including the Vietnam Festival in Hokkaido and the Hokkaido Festivalin Ha Long this year, which are important components of the new bilateralrelationship framework. He also highlighted the importance of enhancing workforcetraining cooperation and improving working and living conditions for Vietnameseapprentices and workers in Japan. PM Chinh proposed that Japan consider allocatingnew-generation Official Development Assistance (ODA) capital to a project on building a rail route from downtown Hanoi to the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park as soonas possible. He explained that such a railway project holds significant importance, including facilitating thedevelopment of the VJU, advancing projects within the Just EnergyTransition Partnership (JETP) framework and addressing issues relatedto the Nghi Son oil refinery project. Takebe, for his part, agreed with the host’s proposals and pledgedhis continued support for cooperation with Vietnam, especially in areas withpromising opportunities as mentioned by the PM. He also suggested specific measures to bolsterbilateral ties, including building an "ecosystem" to support human resources training cooperation, and promoting educational tourism, internship training and labourcooperation. At present, there are about 520,000 Vietnamesepeople living, working and studying in Japan, forming the second largestforeign community there and significantly contributing to socio-economic developmentof both countries./.