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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders of ASEAN and Japan attended the opening ceremony of the Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations. (Photo: Nhat Bac) |
Taking place over four days with about 40 activities in a schedule that “left no gaps”, the working trip to attend the Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations and bilateral activities in Japan from December 15-18 by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation achieved results that were both strategic, long-term and very specific.
Vietnam mark
In his speeches at the Conference, the Prime Minister always emphasized that the relationship with Japan is one of ASEAN's most successful relationships. According to the Prime Minister, "in the face of headwinds and unprecedented challenges, ASEAN and Japan need to strengthen solidarity and enhance cooperation, making the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership a positive role model, playing an important role in creating a peaceful, stable environment for mutual development and win-win in the region".
Based on the summary and drawing of three profound lessons from the past 50 years, the Prime Minister proposed three major directions and four specific connections, further strengthening ASEAN-Japan strategic coordination, and jointly promoting the building of an open regional structure based on rules with ASEAN playing a central role.
The Prime Minister emphasized, “Now, our task is to concretize the relationship from heart to heart into a relationship from action to action and from emotion to effectiveness with specific practical cooperation projects, programs and plans so that the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework with a solid foundation like Mount Fuji and vast cooperation opportunities like the East Sea, can truly come to life.”
It can be said that the Prime Minister's participation contributed to the overall success of the Conference. The two sides reached a high consensus on measures for future economic and social "co-creation" cooperation, promoting trade and investment while strengthening supply chains, facilitating exports to each other's markets, and further promoting emerging areas of cooperation... The Prime Minister and 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 a joint international exchange and research program, and its commitment to mobilize 35 billion USD in the next five years from public-private funds to promote connectivity cooperation, support small and medium enterprises, digital transformation, energy transformation, and climate change response...
Notably, the two sides agreed to further deepen political-security cooperation and enhance coordination on international issues to respond to regional and global challenges. Japan affirmed its support for ASEAN's efforts to fully and effectively implement the DOC and soon complete an effective and efficient COC in accordance with international law and the 1982 UNCLOS.
The specific contributions and recommendations of the Head of the Vietnamese Government have "correctly" and "accurately" targeted the needs of ASEAN-Japan cooperation in the new development stage, and were highly appreciated by the Conference, reflected in many contents in the "Vision Statement" and "Declaration Implementation Plan" adopted at the closing session of the Conference.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the ASEAN-Japan 50th Anniversary Summit. (Photo: Nhat Bac) |
Create new investment wave
On the bilateral level, this is the first working trip to Japan by a senior Vietnamese leader, taking place just two weeks after the two countries upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership. This is also the second time this year that the Prime Minister has visited the Land of the Rising Sun to attend a major international conference. The 30 meetings and working sessions between the Prime Minister and Japanese politicians and businessmen took place in an atmosphere of sincerity, trust, substance and efficiency.
At forums and working sessions, the Head of the Government frankly requested Japan to provide ODA to Vietnam with “more incentives, simpler procedures, and faster implementation”. Referring to a number of specific cooperation projects that still exist and are stuck between the two countries, the Prime Minister affirmed that he would direct the relevant agencies to actively coordinate with partners to resolve them, such as restructuring the Nghi Son Refinery and Petrochemical Plant project, determination to implement the O Mon Lot B gas project, and early disbursement of the fourth loan for the Ho Chi Minh City urban railway project, Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien section, etc.
“I look forward to your actions,” the Prime Minister urged investors from the Land of the Rising Sun to invest more strongly in Vietnam in new technology industries, semiconductor industry, chip manufacturing, digital transformation, green transformation, environmental technology, etc., especially technology transfer to Vietnam.
Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet said that perhaps the greatest thing that can be felt through this working trip of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is the sincere, affectionate, trustworthy, practical and effective atmosphere in the relationship between the two countries. At the same time, the Prime Minister's working trip has achieved many practical and important results, further deepening political trust, consolidating good personal relations with Japanese political leaders, and at the same time being the first step towards concretizing the new cooperation framework.
In economic cooperation, through the Prime Minister's statements and proposals, it will create a new impetus, increasing the participation of Vietnamese enterprises in the global supply chain of Japanese enterprises, especially in the fields of automobile manufacturing, electronics, medical equipment, textiles, etc. During the talks and meetings, the Prime Minister and leaders of Japanese sectors affirmed that they will continue to support Vietnam in successfully implementing industrialization and modernization, building an independent and self-reliant economy.
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| Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh holds talks with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Tokyo, December 16, 2023. (Photo: Nhat Bac) |
At the Vietnam-Japan Economic Forum with the participation of nearly 600 Japanese enterprises, the Prime Minister frankly asked Japanese enterprises to increase investment in Vietnam. The Prime Minister witnessed the exchange of more than 30 cooperation documents between ministries, sectors and enterprises of the two countries, worth nearly 3 billion USD, and the signing of three ODA cooperation projects worth more than 200 million USD, bringing the total value of ODA cooperation between the two countries in 2023 to nearly 800 million USD, the highest since 2017.
In addition, the Prime Minister's working trip also promoted human resource connection, enhanced local cooperation and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. With the spirit of "from emotion to action", upon arriving in Japan, the Prime Minister visited Gunma Prefecture, where there are many Vietnamese workers, and attended an economic forum with the Governor of Gunma Prefecture. The Prime Minister received the Governors of five Japanese provinces - localities with close economic relations with Vietnam - to promote and encourage localities of the two countries to strengthen cooperation not only in investment, trade, and labor but also to promote the establishment of Japanese production facilities in Vietnamese localities.
In new areas such as energy transition, digital transformation, innovation... through meetings and contacts with the Head of the Vietnamese Government, Japanese enterprises expressed high interest in Vietnam's policies and needs and made a strong commitment to promoting investment and cooperation with Vietnam in new areas. More than half of the documents signed between ministries, branches, localities and enterprises of the two countries at the Vietnam - Japan Economic Forum were in new areas of cooperation, including projects such as smart city construction, green transformation, digital transformation, logistics, artificial intelligence application, robots...
This could be the beginning of a wave of investment by Japanese enterprises in new fields in Vietnam in the near future.
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| On the occasion of attending the ASEAN-Japan Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations, on the morning of December 17, in Tokyo, Japan, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a working breakfast with Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Sonexay Siphandone and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia Hun Manet. (Photo: Duong Giang) |
With ASEAN family
On the occasion of attending the Conference, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a working breakfast with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet; met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah and Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin.
During the meetings, the Prime Minister and ASEAN leaders continued to discuss directions for promoting economic connectivity and cooperation, three-country and four-country cooperation programs on tourism, etc. The Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Singapore agreed to expand the VSIP industrial park network to remote localities of Vietnam, and encourage the conversion of traditional VSIPs into smart, green, low-carbon energy industrial parks (VSEPs).
In particular, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Lao and Cambodian counterparts discussed the establishment of a meeting mechanism for three Prime Ministers to realize the results achieved at the Summit of the Leaders of the Three Parties of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
With practical, effective and concrete results, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's working trip ended 2023, the year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations, with about 500 events held in both countries. At the same time, this is one of the last important high-level foreign affairs events of 2023, a vibrant and successful year for Vietnamese diplomacy, continuing to effectively implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.
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![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
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