Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam and Japanhave agreed to increase exchanges between parliamentarians, especially youngand female ones, to share information and experience in legislative activities.

The agreement was reached between VietnameseNational Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and Vice President of theHouse of Councillors of Japan Ogawa Toshio at their meeting in Hanoi onDecember 19.

The two leaders consented to promote theconnecting role of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group and theJapan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance.

They said the two parliaments have paidattention to supervising the implementation of cooperation agreements signed betweenVietnam and Japan in all fields, as well as support the two governments to stepup cooperative ties.

The two sides recognised the sound developmentof the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperityin Asia. The two countries have regularly conducted exchanges at all levels,especially among senior officials. Many cooperation fields have provedeffective, while their political trust has been further consolidated.

Ngan said Vietnam attaches great importance tothe extensive strategic partnership with Japan, adding that the two countriesshare a lot of similar viewpoints on regional and international issues. 

She added that Vietnam highly appreciatedJapan’s cooperation and provision of official development assistance (ODA),which has helped Vietnam with national development, poverty reduction, economicgrowth, and settlement of post-war consequences such as clearing bombs andmines, and dealing with toxic chemicals.

The top Vietnamese legislator voiced her hopethat Japan will continue supporting Vietnam to address these aforesaid matters.

Ngan proposed the House of Councillors of Japanencourage Japanese businesses to expand investment in Vietnam in hi-techagriculture and supporting industries, as well as enabling Vietnamese firms tojoin Japanese suppliers’ chains.

She also suggested promoting cultural exchanges,locality-to-locality cooperation, and collaboration in human resourcesdevelopment.

The NA Chairwoman asked the Japanese House ofCouncillors to create favourable conditions for Vietnamese to live, study andwork in Japan.

She called on the two countries to strengthencoordination at regional and global forums, particularly when Vietnam takes therole of Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Chairof the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in 2020, and non-permanentmember of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021.

Ngan hoped Japan will continue supporting theviewpoints of ASEAN and Vietnam on  maintainingpeace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation inthe East Sea, as well as settling disputes via peaceful measures in line withinternational law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law ofthe Sea (UNCLOS).

Toshio said Japanese parliamentarians supportthe policy of developing relations with Vietnam.

Regarding the settlement of post-warconsequences, he said this is not only a matter of bilateral cooperation butalso a humanitarian issue. Therefore, the Japanese parliament and governmentwill assist Vietnam in this field, he affirmed./.