Prime Minister's visit to Japan and 30 cooperation deals worth 3 billion USD

The 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-Japan diplomatic relations is considered a 'golden moment' to look back on cooperation between the parties over the past five decades, finding new momentum suitable for the comprehensive strategic partnership.

Early this morning, December 19, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese high-ranking delegation arrived at Noi Bai airport, successfully concluding their working trip to Japan and attending the Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-Japan diplomatic relations from December 15-18.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends the ASEAN - Japan Summit

NORTH JAPAN

According to Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet, with the slogan “Golden friendship, golden opportunities”, the ASEAN-Japan Summit is of special significance, a “golden moment” for ASEAN and Japanese leaders to look back on the cooperation process over the past five decades and set out new development directions.

Japan pledges to mobilize $35 billion in 5 years

After the conference, Japan pledged to support businesses in the region to participate more deeply in the supply chain of Japanese enterprises in particular and the global supply chain in general. ASEAN leaders appreciated Japan's announcement of 40 billion yen in support for people-to-people exchange programs in the next 10 years, 15 billion yen for the general international research and research exchange program. Japan also pledged to mobilize 35 billion USD in the next 5 years from public-private funds to promote connectivity cooperation, support small and medium enterprises, digital transformation, energy transformation, climate change response, etc.

The Prime Minister met with the Emperor and Empress of Japan, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and met with old friends of Vietnam such as former Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda.

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ASEAN and Japan agreed to adopt the “Vision Statement on ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation: Trusted Partners” and the “Plan for Implementation of the Vision Statement” as the basis for implementing the ASEAN-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership in the coming time.

3 major directions for ASEAN - Japan relations

Attending the conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highlighted the historical significance of the conference, highly appreciating the spirit of solidarity and cooperation between ASEAN and Japan that has helped overcome difficult and challenging times over the past half century. In particular, the head of the Vietnamese Government also proposed three major directions for ASEAN-Japan relations to become a model, a positive factor, playing an important role in ensuring a peaceful, stable and mutually developing environment in the region. At the same time, he emphasized four connections, in which he suggested that the two sides strengthen economic-trade and investment connections, considering this the focus and driving force for the development of the ASEAN-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership, and promote strategic infrastructure connections.

The Prime Minister had a series of meetings with major Japanese financial institutions and businesses.

In addition, expanding connectivity in new areas, especially innovation, digital transformation, green economy, circular economy, knowledge economy and smart agriculture, etc., will bring new vitality to ASEAN-Japan cooperation. On this occasion, the Prime Minister also attended the first Summit between ASEAN and Japan leaders on the “Asian Zero Emission Community” (AZEC), sending a strong message about Vietnam’s determination and drastic actions to implement its commitments.

New generation ODA for Vietnam

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip to Japan is an important activity to conclude a very exciting year celebrating the 50th anniversary of Vietnam - Japan relations and was conducted just 2 weeks after the two countries upgraded their relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the world. According to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, the working trip further deepens political trust, consolidates good personal relations with Japanese political leaders, and is the first step towards concretizing the new cooperation framework. At the Vietnam - Japan economic forum with the participation of more than 500 typical Japanese enterprises, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh conveyed the message asking Japanese enterprises to increase investment in Vietnam. Ministries, sectors and businesses of the two countries exchanged more than 30 cooperation documents, worth nearly 3 billion USD, focusing on important areas such as finance, education, health, industrial park investment, etc. Notably, efforts to further promote ODA cooperation between the two countries also achieved specific and substantive results when the two Prime Ministers witnessed the exchange of documents signing 3 ODA cooperation projects with a total value of more than 200 million USD, contributing to bringing the total value of ODA cooperation between the two countries in 2023 to more than 100 billion yen (equivalent to nearly 800 million USD), the highest since 2017. Leaders of the two countries also agreed to soon implement new ODA projects of Japan with high incentives, simple and flexible procedures in areas of Vietnam's need, especially in building strategic infrastructure.

Starting a new wave of investment

In Tokyo, the Vietnamese Government hosted and organized the first conference on promoting overseas labor, with the participation of more than 200 businesses from both sides and nearly 200 Vietnamese workers. During his four days in Japan, the Prime Minister had more than 10 meetings with leaders of major Japanese corporations as well as attended economic forums and seminars. Japanese economic circles highly appreciated the development and stability of the Vietnamese economy as well as the prospects for business and investment in Vietnam, and were ready to invest and expand business in priority areas of Vietnam. In particular, regarding local cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, the Prime Minister visited Gunma Prefecture immediately after arriving in Japan and said "this is a land of outstanding people and geography", the hometown of four Japanese Prime Ministers.

Prime Minister gives gifts to Vietnamese workers working in Japan

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The Prime Minister also received governors of five Japanese provinces, encouraging localities of the two countries to strengthen cooperation not only in investment, trade, labor, and cultural exchange. The working trip opened up opportunities for cooperation between the two countries in new areas such as energy transition, digital transformation, innovation, etc. Japanese enterprises are highly interested in Vietnam's policies and needs and are strongly committed to promoting investment and cooperation with Vietnam in new areas. More than half of the documents signed between ministries, sectors, localities, and enterprises of the two countries at the Vietnam - Japan Economic Forum were in new areas of cooperation, including smart city construction, green transformation, digital transformation, logistics, artificial intelligence application, robots, etc. This could be the beginning of a wave of investment by Japanese enterprises in new areas in Vietnam in the near future.

Thanhnien.vn

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