President To Lam receives ambassadors of Japan, Belarus
President To Lam received the ambassadors of Japan and Belarus at separate meetings in Hanoi on July 3.
At a reception for Ambassador Ito Naoki, Lam underscored the importance of the Vietnam-Japan relationship, particularly in light of the recent upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the successful celebration of the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations in 2023.
He expressed his satisfaction with the significant progress achieved in bilateral relations over recent years, with growing closeness marked by frequent exchanges of delegations at all levels. Economic ties remained a major pillar while workforce exchanges and connectivity were also noted to be strengthening.
Recognising the cultural similarities and economic complementarities between Vietnam and Japan, he expressed Vietnam’s desire to collaborate effectively with Japan in implementing the new partnership framework which he said would benefit the two countries’ peoples and contribute positively to regional peace, stability and development.
The host encouraged the ambassador to play a key role as a policy advisor and bridge between the two countries. He specifically asked the diplomat to work to concretise the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership framework, focusing on enhancing political trust and strengthening substantive cooperation in economy, trade and investment, especially in infrastructure, labour, human resources training, cultural, locality-to-locality and people-to-people exchanges.
Ambassador Ito highlighted his commitment to deepening the Vietnam-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership toward the next five decades, with a focus on economic collaboration, workforce training, cultural and locality-to-locality cooperation, and tourism.
He pledged to work closely with Vietnamese ministries, agencies and localities to realise agreements and shared visions established by leaders, aiming to foster a more robust and substantive partnership between Vietnam and Japan.
Receiving Uladzimir Baravikou, Lam affirmed that Vietnam always values the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation with Belarus, which have been nurtured by the leaders and people of the two countries since the Soviet era and for more than 30 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992.
He said Vietnam always considers Belarus a trusted friend and partner, and appreciates the support of the Belarusian people for Vietnam in the past, adding that Vietnam hopes to continue strengthening the multifaceted cooperation with Belarus.
The President highly appreciated the results of cooperation between the two countries over the past time, including promoting the intergovernmental committee mechanism in implementing cooperation agreements and joint efforts to enhance collaboration in areas of politics - diplomacy, economics - trade, investment, defence, security, science - technology, culture, education, and local-level ties.
For his part, Ambassador Baravikou affirmed that Belarus values the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries, and wishes to strengthen the cooperation in all fields including politics - diplomacy, economics - trade, culture, education and people-to-people exchanges, especially between the young generations of the two countries.
The Ambassador agreed with the orientations for bilateral cooperation proposed by the President, including the exchange of delegations at all levels and via all channels of the Party, State, Parliament and Youth Union, as well as the promotion of people-to-people exchange, culture, and tourism, especially after the two countries’ agreement on visa exemption for ordinary passport holders comes into effect.
He pledged to do his best to develop the traditional friendship and multifaceted cooperation between Vietnam and Belarus.
Discussing the two countries’ cooperation at international organisations and multilateral forums, the Vietnamese President and his guest agreed that the two countries will continue to coordinate and support each other for the common interests of the two countries and to contribute to peace, stability and development in the region and the world.
