Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) welcomes Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in Tokyo on October 8 (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister NguyenXuan Phuc’s trip to Japan for the 10th Mekong – Japan Summit and a visit of thecountry demonstrates the importance that Vietnam attaches to its extensivestrategic partnership with the Northeast Asian nation.
Over the past years, relations between Vietnamand Japan have been developing rapidly and substantively in various sphereswith high political trust.
Japan is the first G7 member to have welcomed aGeneral Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (in 1995), set up thestrategic partnership with Vietnam (2009), recognised Vietnam’s market economy(2011), and invited the country to an outreach meeting of a G7 Summit (2016).
In an official visit to Japan by then PartyGeneral Secretary Nong Duc Manh in April 2009, the two countries agreed to lifttheir ties to the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.
During a trip to Vietnam by then Japanese PMNaoto Kan in October 2010, they issued a joint statement on comprehensivelydeveloping the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.
In a State visit by then Vietnamese PresidentTruong Tan Sang in March 2014, the two sides elevated bilateral relations tothe extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.
In the official tour of Japan in September 2015,Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe issued ajoint vision statement on Vietnam – Japan relations.
Bilateral links have been enhanced even morestrongly following a State visit to the Southeast Asian nation by JapaneseEmperor Akihito and Empress Michiko from February 28 to March 5, 2017, and anofficial trip by PM Abe in January 2017.
The countries have effectively maintaineddialogue mechanisms and supported each other at multilateral forums like theUnited Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asia – Europe Meeting (ASEM).
Japan is currently a leading economic partner ofVietnam. It is the biggest provider of official development assistance (ODA)for and ranks second among foreign investors in Vietnam. Last year, it was thefourth largest trade partner of Vietnam.
In the first eight months of 2018, bilateraltrade reached 24.52 billion USD (up 13.7 percent year on year), in which Vietnam’sexports were worth 12.21 billion USD of (up 11.5 percent) and the country’simports from Japan were valued at 12.31 billion USD (up 15.9 percent).
In 2017, Japan’s direct investment in Vietnamhit a record of 9.11 billion USD, ranking first among countries and territoriesinvesting in the latter. By the end of last August, it had 3,865 valid FDIprojects worth nearly 55.84 billion USD here, holding the second place.
Regarding ODA provision, the Northeast Asiannation pledged about 30.5 billion USD in ODA loans for Vietnam from 1992 to theend of fiscal year 2016 (March 31, 2017). In the first half of this year, thetwo sides signed documents on two projects to be funded through non-refundableaid with total value of nearly 25 million USD. Japan has also committed a loanworth almost 16 billion JPY (142 million USD) for vocational training inVietnam.
Meanwhile, agricultural cooperation has witnessedbreakthroughs since the State visit to Japan by then President Truong Tan Sangin 2014. During the trip by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong inSeptember 2015, both sides inked the long-term joint vision on agriculturalcooperation. A revised version of the joint vision was signed in May this year.
Vietnam has sent a large number of apprenticesto Japan since 1992, raising the number of Vietnamese workers and apprenticesthere to about 120,000 at present.
Cooperation in education and training has beenexpanded in various forms. Japan is one of the biggest suppliers ofnon-refundable aid in education for Vietnam. As of the beginning of this year,there were about 75,000 Vietnamese students in Japan. The G7 nation is alsoassisting Vietnam in upgrading four universities, developing the Vietnam JapanUniversity, and teaching Japanese at some schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity.
In the first 7 months of this year, nearly464,400 Japanese tourists visited Vietnam, rising by 3 percent from a yearearlier and ranking third among foreign holidaymakers in the ASEAN country.
Additionally, locality-to-locality connectionshave been strongly promoted. Many pairs of localities of the two countries haveinked cooperation deals such as HCM City and Osaka city, Yokohama city andNagano prefecture; Da Nang city and Sakai and Yokohama cities; Hanoi andFukuoka prefecture; and Dong Nai province and Hyogo prefecture.–VNA
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