After his arrival in Japan, the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister had meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives Tadamori Oshima and Director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Shinichi Kitaoka.
At the meetings, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh underscored the great significance of Japanese leaders’ Vietnam visits, of which the recent visit to Vietnam by the Japanese King and Queen has marked a historical turning point and created a momentum for friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in the time to come.
Both Japanese Prime Minister and House Speaker confirmed that Japan treasures bilateral relations with Vietnam and considers Vietnam one of its important partners in the region. They also vowed to continue the prioritized policy for Vietnam’s
development, and wanted to team up with Vietnamese leaders to further strengthen comprehensive relations and cooperation between Japan and Vietnam in the coming time. They also highly appreciated and thanked Vietnamese leaders and people for the solemn but sincere and warm reception given to the Japanese King and Quen as well as the Japanese Prime Minister and the House Speaker during their recent visits to the country.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also thanked Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang for his invitation letter to the Japanese Prime Minister to attend the APEC Summit Week 2017 in Da Nang, Vietnam, and pledged to comprehensively support Vietnam to successfully host the APEC Summit Week 2017.
During the talk between the Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and the Japanese Foreign Minister as well as the 9th Meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee, the two sides exchanged approaches to effectively carry out agreements recently inked by leaders of the two countries. They also prepared the agenda for an upcoming official visit to Japan by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, with the aim of boosting the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership in an effective manner and for practical outcomes.
The two sides agreed to regularly exchange visits and contacts between leaders of the two countries, improve the efficiency of the two countries’ dialogue mechanisms, including the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee’s meetings. The two sides also agreed on the schedules for the second meeting of the Vietnam-Japan Joint Committee on Cooperation in Industry, Trade and Energy in June 2017, as well as for the 4th Vietnam-Japan High-Level Dialogue on Agriculture by the end of this year.
Regarding economic cooperation, the two sides reached consensus on bolstering the connection between the two economies, coordinating closely with each other in implementing major projects in accordance with the two countries’ leaders’ agreement, such as the North-South Highway and Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park.
The two sides also agreed to consolidate collaboration and effectively implement the 6th phase of the Vietnam-Japan Joint Initiative on improving Vietnam’s investment environment and to promote cooperation in industry and energy.
The host reiterated that Japan will continue supporting Vietnam’s economic development by providing ODA for the country and increasing its engagement in building high-quality infrastructural projects in Vietnam; assist Vietnam in rolling out action plans of the 6 selected industries under Vietnam’s Industrialization Strategy, within the framework of the Vietnam-Japan cooperation roadmap toward 2020 with a vision to 2030; encourage Japanese businesses to invest in Vietnam; and assist Vietnam in reforming its State-run enterprises.
The two sides also agreed to joint efforts in developing Vietnam’s automobile industry and support industry, to boost two-way trade, and provide favorable conditions for Vietnamese goods to enter the Japanese market.
Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh took this chance to reaffirm that the Vietnamese Government always appreciates and tries its utmost to effectively use Japan-provided ODA.
Regarding the East Sea (South China Sea) issue, the two sides shared the international community’s concern about negative developments in the regional sea, and underscored the importance of peace, security, and safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the region; urged involved parties not to take actions causing more tension and threatening peace and security in the East Sea, and not to carry out militarization to change the status quo in the East Sea. The two sides also called on involved parties to deal with disputes by peaceful means, to fully respect legal and diplomatic progress, to refrain from the use of force or threatening to the use of force; to seriously conform to international law, particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982 (UNCLOS 1982), and the Declaration on Conduct of parties in the East Sea (DOC); and to soon complete the code of conduct of parties in the East Sea (COC).
Translated by Thu Nguyen