Tokyo (VNA) – Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc met with Speakers of the House of Representatives and the House ofCouncillors of the Japanese National Diet in Tokyo on October 10, as part ofhis visit to the Northeast Asian nation.

At the meeting, PM Phuc lauded the strong,comprehensive, and substantive development of Vietnam-Japan relations as wellas the progress in parliamentary links since their diplomatic ties were set up45 years ago.

He highlighted the wish to enhance connectionsin a more comprehensive and profound manner to match the interests andaspirations of the two countries’ people. He also called for strongercoordination in regional and international issues of shared concern, thusactively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation, and development in theregion.

Talking to Speaker of the House ofRepresentatives Tadamori Oshima, the visiting leader asked the lower house to increasemeetings at all levels and the exchange of legislative experience between the twoparliaments. He also asked the house to bolster cooperation in agriculture,labour (including the reception of more Vietnamese practitioners),locality-to-locality ties, culture, and people-to-people exchange.

Oshima highly valued the breakthrough andsubstantive strides in Vietnam-Japan ties, noting that the Japanese lower housetreasures its bilateral relations and wants to step up the countries’ extensivestrategic partnership in all spheres.

He said he respects young Vietnamese people’ssentiments towards Japan, adding that the lower house will listen to publicopinions and consider improving entry procedures for Vietnamese citizens. Healso voiced his support for young Vietnamese looking to study in Japan and foryoung Japanese wanting to study in Vietnam.

Meeting with Speaker of the House of CouncillorsChuichi Date, PM Phuc appreciated the upper house’s contributions to mutual cooperationin all fields.

He affirmed that Vietnam treasures and makesfull use of Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) in an effectivemanner, asking the Japanese parliament to consider providing ODA with morepreferential conditions for the country.

The PM also called for the upper house’senhancement of bilateral ties between localities, as well as in agriculture andlabour. He expressed his hope that the Vietnamese and Japanese parliaments willfurther supervise and promote the two governments’ implementation of the signedagreements, and reinforce coordination at regional and international interparliamentaryforums.

For his part, Date spoke highly of theVietnamese Government’s performance and the country’s economic and diplomaticachievements. He affirmed that the upper house will strengthen the countries’extensive and all-round cooperation and support the Japanese Government tocontinue assisting Vietnam with its socio-economic development.

On this occasion, he also applauded the fruitfulcontributions by Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Nguyen Quoc Cuong, who hashelped flourish bilateral relations.–VNA