Tokyo (VNA) – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held separate meetings with President of the House of Councillors of Japan Otsuji Hidehisa and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nukaga Fukushiro, as part of his ongoing trip to Japan for the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and bilateral activities.

Meeting President Otsuji, PM Chinh said his Vietnam visit in September was one of the important and meaningful events in the year marking the 50th anniversary of bilateral  diplomatic ties, contributing to strengthening political trust, understanding and exchanges between the two legislatures and their parliamentarians.

He suggested Otsuji and the Japanese House of Councillors further uphold the role of the two legislatures in the development of bilateral relations; support and assist Vietnam in carrying out three strategic breakthroughs, industrialisation and modernisation. Additionally, there should be a focus on promoting exchanges between friendship parliamentarians’ groups of the two countries, young lawmakers, as well as creating favourable conditions for over 520,000 Vietnamese living in Japan, including tax exemption for Vietnamese workers.

Otsuji, for his part, said PM Chinh's presence at the summit and his bilateral activities in Japan will contribute to concretising the newly-established cooperation framework, deepening bilateral relations across various areas.

He pledged to step up Vietnam-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership in all fields, emphasising the need to strengthen close cooperation and exchanges between the two legislative bodies in the coming time.

In his conversation with Speaker Nukaga, the Vietnamese PM suggested that Nukaga and the Japanese House of Representatives support the strengthening of Vietnam-Japan multifaceted cooperation within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World. This includes strengthening collaboration and exchanges between the two legislatures and increasing the exchange of high-ranking delegations, as well as exchanges between lawmakers, especially young and female ones.

He also sought support for fostering connectivity between the two economies, assisting Vietnam in building an independent and self-reliant economy, industrialisation and modernisation efforts, as well as pushing forward Vietnam-Japan ties in digital transformation, green transition, climate change response, natural resource conservation and national defence-security.

The PM proposed that the Speaker accelerate the effective implementation of the new-generation ODA programme with high incentives, simple and flexible procedures for Vietnam's large-scale strategic infrastructure projects, green transition and digital transformation, locality-to-locality and people-to-people exchanges, labour and workforce training cooperation.

In reply, Nukaga wished for closer cooperation between the two legislatures in the coming time and committed to policies aimed at improving living conditions of the Vietnamese community in Japan, particularly improving their income in the context of the depreciating yen. He expressed support for simplifying procedures, moving toward visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens entering Japan./.