The destination for Ms. Kamikawa Yoko's first bilateral visit after taking office as Japanese Foreign Minister (September 2023) is four Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam.
The 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 2023 anniversary were reviewed by both sides in the spirit of recognizing the outstanding achievements of bilateral relations over the past half century. During the meetings with Minister Kamikawa Yoko, the Vietnamese senior leaders affirmed that the two countries have many common points and room to continue to develop bilateral relations to new heights.
Commit to specific efforts
It can be affirmed that in recent times, exchanges and cooperation between the two countries have been implemented comprehensively and extensively, including exchanges of high-level delegations.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attended the expanded G7 Summit and worked in Japan in May 2023. This is the second time Japan has invited Vietnam to attend the expanded G7 Summit.
On September 20, Crown Prince Akishino and Princess began an official visit to Vietnam, shortly after the visit of Japanese House of Councillors President Otsuji Hidehisa (September 4-7). These visits contributed to enhancing friendly exchanges, trust, and understanding between the two countries.
| During the visit, in addition to holding talks with Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko greeted President Vo Van Thuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and met with Head of the Central External Relations Commission Le Hoai Trung. |
Choosing Vietnam as the destination after less than a month of taking office, Minister Kamikawa Yoko has concretized his commitment and efforts to support Vietnam in realizing its long-term strategic goals and vision for the period 2030-2045 with four key areas, including: reviving ODA cooperation, focusing on strategic infrastructure development; expanding investment and trade cooperation; cooperation in new areas such as digital transformation, green energy; cooperation in training high-quality human resources.
In addition to bilateral cooperation issues, the two sides discussed recent notable regional and international situations, affirmed close coordination to contribute to regional peace and stability, and continued mutual support at multilateral forums and international organizations.
President Vo Van Thuong affirmed that Vietnam is ready to cooperate closely with Japan to contribute to the success of the Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN-Japan diplomatic relations in December 2023.
New generation ODA - a pillar of cooperation
Japan is the largest ODA donor to Vietnam. ODA capital from the land of the rising sun plays an important role in developing key infrastructure projects, creating positive spillover momentum, promoting sustainable socio-economic development; supporting the transfer of advanced technology, and training high-quality human resources for Vietnam.
At the talks within the framework of the G7 Summit in May, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio highly appreciated the two sides' completion of capital commitment procedures for the new generation ODA program for economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic with a scale of 50 billion Yen (more than 8,500 billion VND).
The two leaders agreed to assign ministries and sectors in charge to discuss the possibility of Japan providing new-generation ODA with high incentives and simple and flexible procedures for large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects in Vietnam such as the North-South high-speed railway, urban railway, climate change response, digital transformation, green transformation and healthcare.
In the exchange with Minister Kamikawa Yoko, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son especially emphasized the content surrounding the new generation ODA with the prominent message: Vietnam requests Japan to promote and effectively implement the new generation ODA for large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects of Vietnam such as roads and railways.
Appreciating the ODA capital provided by the Japanese Government to Vietnam in recent times, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that the two sides cooperate closely to promote the progress of urban railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Cho Ray Hospital 2 project, etc.
It can be said that, in the context of the regional and world economy facing many challenges and difficulties, Vietnam-Japan economic cooperation in general, of which ODA cooperation is a pillar, continues to make positive and important contributions to Vietnam's socio-economic development.
Promoting ASEAN-Japan cooperation
Vietnam is one of the stops on Minister Kamikawa Yoko’s Southeast Asia tour as Japan will host the ASEAN-Japan Special Summit later this year. This is an important step to strengthen relations between Japan and ASEAN, especially after the adoption of the Joint Statement establishing the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership at the 26th ASEAN-Japan Summit last September.
For Japan, ASEAN plays an important role in promoting peace, stability and development in the region. ASEAN is also one of Japan's important strategic partners and this relationship is not only based on the economic foundation but also includes diverse aspects such as security, culture and politics, education and training, and people-to-people exchanges. In an interview with the press, Minister Kamikawa Yoko said that Japan intends to build a new vision for the Japan-ASEAN Strategic Partnership during the upcoming Special Summit.
Sharing with reporters right after the high-level meetings of Minister Kamikawa Yoko in Hanoi, Spokesperson of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kobayashi assessed that Vietnam is playing an increasingly important role in the region and the world with a peace-loving foreign policy, upholding international law and the United Nations Charter. Vietnam is also an active member of ASEAN, together with ASEAN members expanding relations with partners, making ASEAN a core factor for regional peace and stability.
An interesting coincidence, almost at the same time as the visit to Hanoi of the head of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the capital Tokyo over the weekend, more than 85,000 people participated in the Vietnam Pho Festival 2023 for the first time in the land of the rising sun. The echo of the event once again strengthened the spirit of friendship between the people of the two countries.
Along with the success of the Japanese Minister's visit to Vietnam, it can be seen that the bridge between the two countries is always seamless, at all levels and aspects, strong enough to take further steps forward, as Ms. Kamikawa Yoko affirmed, the two countries have all the conditions to bring the relationship to a new height.
| In a discussion with Minister Kamikawa Yoko, Minister Bui Thanh Son proposed that Japan take measures to facilitate and simplify procedures for granting visas to Vietnamese citizens, such as including Vietnam in the list of countries eligible for electronic visas; granting long-term visas (5-10 years) to Vietnamese people who have entered Japan many times and have not violated the law; and gradually moving towards visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens. |
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