Tokyo (VNA) – National Assembly (NA) Chairman Tran Thanh Man and President of the House of Councilors of Japan Sekiguchi Masakazu held talks in Tokyo on December 5 as part of the former's official visit to Japan.

During the talks, Man congratulated Sekiguchi on his election as President of the House of Councilors of Japan. He said Vietnam regards Japan as a leading and long-term partner and the bilateral relationship is at its best with strong political trust and close, comprehensive ties at all levels.

The host expressed his pleasure at welcoming the Vietnamese leader shortly after he took office in November. He extended his condolences to the Vietnamese people over the losses caused by Super Typhoon Yagi and reiterated Japan’s steadfast support for Vietnam during challenging times.

Regarding bilateral relations, Sekiguchi said that this year marks a new beginning of the bilateral cooperation for the next 50 years. He asserted that the House of Councilors of Japan will continue contributing to the relationship's growth.

The Vietnamese NA Chairman emphasised Japan's continued role as a leading economic partner, the largest official development assistance (ODA) provider, the second-largest labour cooperation partner, the third-largest investor, the third-largest tourism partner and the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam.

He thanked Japan for providing ODA for Vietnam over the past 30 years, and proposed granting new-generation ODA with high incentives and streamlined procedures to develop Vietnam’s large-scale strategic infrastructure.

Welcoming Japan's new policy on foreign labour, especially its shift to a "training-working" model from the "technical intern", the top Vietnamese legislator urged Japan to expand job categories and increase the intake of Vietnamese interns. He also called for improved living and working conditions and social welfares for Vietnamese in Japan and enhanced collaboration in training high-quality human resources and strategic management personnel.

The two sides emphasised the importance of boosting cultural and tourism ties, people-to-people exchanges, and locality-to-locality connectivity to deepen bilateral ties. Both the guest and the host agreed that parliamentary cooperation remains a vital channel to link the nations. They expressed satisfaction with the signing of an agreement on enhancing legislative collaboration bilaterally and multilaterally between the Vietnamese NA and the House of Councilors of Japan.

They also agreed to strengthen exchanges among parliamentarians, particularly young and female lawmakers, and leverage the Friendship Parliamentary Alliance mechanism to foster people-to-people exchanges, business cooperation, and locality-to-locality partnership. They committed to enhancing exchanges between specialised committees and refining the legal framework to support businesses in expanding their operations and investments in both countries.

During the talks, both sides agreed to bolster coordination and mutual support at multilateral mechanisms such as ASEAN and the UN, as well as inter-parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), and the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF).

On this occasion, Man invited Sekiguchi and his spouse to pay an official visit to Vietnam at a convenient time. The Japanese leader accepted the invitation with pleasure.

Concluding the talks, the two sides signed a cooperation agreement between the Vietnamese NA an♎d the House of C༒ouncilors of Japan./.