State President Vo Van Thuong receives new Japanese diplomatic chief

Thuong welcomed Kamikawa’s visit following her appointment as head of the Japanese diplomacy, saying her visit was of great significance as it coincides with ongoing celebrations of 50 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

He noted with satisfaction the positive development of Vietnam – Japan relations in recent times and affirmed Japan is Vietnam’s leading economic cooperation partner in the fields of official development assistance (ODA), investment, trade, labour, and tourism.

According to the President, there remains ample room for the two countries to further develop their friendly cooperation relationship in all fields.

He proposed that the two sides increase the exchange of high-level delegations at all levels, and promote cooperation in economy, trade, investment, labour, ODA, human resource training, culture, and people-to-people exchanges, especially among young generations.

He also proposed that Japan create more favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, study and work in their host country.

Minister Kamikawa for her part agreed with President Thuong’s proposals and said the two countries should foster cooperation in their traditional fields and at the same time expand bilateral cooperation to other fields such as digital transformation and green transition.

Exchanging views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, Thuong affirmed that Vietnam stays ready to cooperate closely with Japan to contribute to the success of the ASEAN - Japan Commemorative Summit to be held later this year.

In response, Kamikawa affirmed that Vietnam plays an important role in implementing Japan’s foreign policy in the region. Japan will continue to coordinate closely with Vietnam at multilateral forums, she said.

Vietnam is one of Kamikawa’s stopovers during her Southeast Asian tour from October 8 to 13 that also takes her to Brunei, Laos and Thailand.