Mr Sang welcomed Mr Maehara’s visit to Vietnam to attend the 17^th ASEAN Summit and related summits. He thanked the Japanese Government for its providing official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam and expressed his belief that co-operative relations between the two countries are developing well.

Minister Maehara emphasized the importance of maintaining regular exchange visits and stated that the Japanese Government always attaches much importance to boosting ties with Vietnam. He said Japan is actively implementing co-operative projects to help step up Vietnam’s industrialisation and modernisation process.