PM Dung expressed his hope that with his prestige, Shinzo Abe’s would contribute to boosting the Vietnam-Japan cooperation in economic, trade and development assistance, focusing on projects agreed by the two countries’ leaders.

He expressed his pleasure at the active development of the strategic partnership between the two countries, especially after the recent visit to Vietnam by Japanese PM Naoto Kan. During the visit, many cooperation agreements were signed, including the construction of the second nuclear power plant in Vietnam, a joint venture to exploit rare earth minerals and providing official development assistance for other important projects.

Mr. Shinzo Abe said that the Japanese people supported the cooperation to build the North-South highway and railway, the Hoa Lac hi-tech zone, the Lach Huyen port and the Long Thanh airport in Vietnam

He asked the Vietnamese government to create more favourable conditions for Japanese enterprises to invest in Vietnam for the long-term and expressed his wish that both countries would continue to discuss how to boost cooperation in energy security and labour.

The same day, at a meeting with Mr. Shinzo Abe, Truong Tan Sang, Politburo member and standing member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee

Sang praised his contribution to boosting the friendship and strategic cooperation between the two countries.

He said Vietnam attaches great importance to the development of cooperation with Japan and expressed his joy at the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia between Vietnam and Japan, which has seen proactive development, contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.

He praised the expansion of cooperation between small and medium enterprises in the two countries, especially in supporting industry, and hoped that Vietnam’s industrialisation and modernisation would receive more cooperation from Japan.

He expressed his wish that Shinzo Abe would continue to make important contributions to deepening friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

For his part, Shinzo Abe expressed his pleasure at rapid development in Vietnam and believed that Vietnam would achieve the target of basically becoming an industrial nation by 2020.

He congratulated Vietnam on its successfully hosting of ASEAN-related summits and expressed his belief that the country’s role and position will be strengthened not only in Asia but also over the world.