Accompanying the Minister to the meeting, on the Vietnamese side, were representatives of the leaders of the following units: Asia-Africa Market Department, Multilateral Trade Policy Department, Industry Department, Electricity and Renewable Energy Department, Electricity Regulatory Authority, Trade Promotion Department and the Ministry Office. On the Japanese side, there were also Deputy Ambassador Watanabe Shige and officials from the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam.
At the reception, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien congratulated Ambassador Yamada Takio on his successful tenure with practical contributions to the development of Vietnam-Japan trade, industry and energy relations. In addition, the Minister also emphasized the important role and contribution of Ambassador Yamada Takio in upgrading the relationship between the two countries to “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World ”.
The Minister was pleased to inform the Ambassador about the improvement in bilateral trade turnover compared to 2023. In the first 3 months of 2024, Vietnam - Japan trade turnover reached 11.2 billion USD, up 5.2% over the same period in 2023, of which Vietnam's export turnover to Japan reached 5.7 billion USD, up 6.3%, Vietnam's import turnover from Japan reached 5.5 billion USD, up 4.2%. The Minister commented that these are positive signals showing that bilateral trade relations have somewhat overcome difficulties in 2023, but there are still many difficulties and challenges ahead when economies recover slowly, and conflicts are complicated in many regions of the world. Therefore, the Minister hopes that the Ambassador, with his deep understanding of Vietnam as well as his experience and affection, will continue to contribute effectively to strengthening the friendly relations and promoting economic cooperation between the two countries. At the same time, the Minister also asked the Ambassador to support his successor to continue promoting the contributions that the Ambassador and his colleagues have pursued to further develop bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
Agreeing with the Minister's opinion, the Ambassador said that he has been associated with Vietnam for many years and witnessed the strong development in the Vietnam - Japan bilateral relationship in all fields. The Ambassador affirmed that although he will no longer be the Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam, he will continue to contribute to the cooperation and development of the bilateral relationship between the two countries.
On this occasion, the Japanese Ambassador expressed his gratitude to the Minister and the Ministry of Industry and Trade for their regular and active support to the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam as well as the activities of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam in recent times. The Ambassador also highly appreciated the role of the Ministry of Industry and Trade in the development of the Vietnamese economy over the past 30 years as well as in the development of economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Japan.
At the meeting, the Ambassador hoped that the Japanese business community would continue to receive support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade from new establishment to implementation of business activities in Vietnam; and requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to actively coordinate with the Japanese side to implement cooperation in AZEC, the supply chain for supporting industry development. Regarding this issue, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien affirmed that these are extremely important cooperations that the Vietnamese side is interested in and agreed to strengthen cooperation with the Japanese side.
To continue facilitating Japanese enterprises to invest and do business in Vietnam, Ambassador Yamada Takio expressed his hope that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will support stable electricity supply during the summer in the North to ensure production and business activities of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam; and promptly carry out procedures to abolish ENT (economic needs testing activities according to Vietnamese law, applicable to foreign-invested economic organizations establishing a second or more retail facility in Vietnam) according to the CPTPP agreement.
Regarding the electricity issue, the Minister affirmed that ensuring a stable power supply for the production and business of enterprises nationwide and the daily life of people is one of the top goals of the Vietnamese Government. The Ministry of Industry and Trade has also been directing relevant units to synchronously deploy many solutions on policy mechanisms, investment and construction and operation to ensure the highest level of stable power supply for production and business. It is expected that the power supply in the North will face many challenges in the event of extreme weather, however, with the solutions that have been and are being implemented, the basic power supply will be guaranteed. Regarding the abolition of ENT according to the CPTPP agreement, the Minister acknowledged the Ambassador's proposal and said that the Ministry of Industry and Trade will try to speed up related procedures, thereby amending legal documents to guide the implementation of commitments related to ENT in the CPTPP and other commitments.
At the end of the meeting, Minister Nguyen Hong Dien once again congratulated Ambassador Yamada Takio on the successful completion of his term, and hoped that in any position in the future, the Ambassador will continue to contribute and foster the good strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan to develop even stronger.
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