President proposes Japan to move towards visa exemption for Vietnamese

President Vo Van Thuong hopes Japan will ease entry procedures and move towards visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens during talks with Prime Minister Kishida.

During talks at the Japanese Prime Minister's Office today, President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed satisfaction with the strong, comprehensive, and substantive development in all areas of bilateral relations with high political trust, close ties in the fields of economy, human resources, and local cooperation, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The two leaders agreed to increase annual high-level exchanges and contacts in various flexible forms, continue to implement existing cooperation dialogue mechanisms and promote the establishment of new cooperation mechanisms, and enhance substantive and effective cooperation in the defense field on the basis of the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam-Japan Defense Cooperation.

President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Kishida before their talks in Tokyo today. Photo: VNA — President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Kishida before their talks in Tokyo today. Photo: *VNA*

Regarding economic cooperation, the two leaders agreed to continue strengthening economic ties between the two countries, promoting cooperation to ensure economic security and expanding cooperation in new areas such as innovation, technology transfer, digital transformation and green transformation.

Prime Minister Kishida affirmed to continue supporting Vietnam in industrialization and modernization, building an independent, self-reliant economy, and deeply integrating into the world with the goal of becoming a developed country by 2045.

Emphasizing that Japanese enterprises consider Vietnam an important base for cooperation to ensure supply chains and the most promising investment destination in ASEAN countries, Prime Minister Kishida suggested that the two sides coordinate to improve efficiency and remove obstacles to speed up the implementation of cooperation projects using Japanese ODA and FDI in Vietnam.

President Vo Van Thuong suggested that Japan actively consider providing Vietnam with new-generation ODA loans focusing on large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects in Vietnam, promoting large-scale investment by Japanese enterprises in Vietnam and technology transfer in the technology sector, enhancing high-quality agricultural cooperation, creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese aquatic products and fruits to enter Japan, including early opening of the market for green-skin pomelos and then passion fruit from Vietnam.

The two sides affirmed to continue to closely coordinate on regional and international issues of mutual concern, actively contribute to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world, and support each other at multilateral forums and international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, APEC, ASEAN, OECD, RCEP, and CPTPP.

After the talks, the two leaders issued a Joint Statement on upgrading relations to "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World".

The two leaders also witnessed the signing of cooperation documents between the two countries' ministries and sectors on aspects such as energy conversion, preservation and restoration of cultural heritage, health, science, and provision of equipment for the Coast Guard Training and Professional Development Center. Among these is an agreement between the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) on supporting the operation of the Vietnam Space Center and the effective exploitation of the LOTUSat-1 satellite in the 2024-2029 period.

President Vo Van Thuong and his wife are on an official visit to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese government from November 27-30.

Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic relations on September 21, 1973 and established a Strategic Partnership in 2009. In 2014, the two countries established an extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia.

Japan was the first G7 country to recognize Vietnam's market economy status and has invited Vietnam to attend the expanded G7 Summit twice. Vietnam-Japan relations have high political trust, increasingly close regional ties, and common views on many regional and international cooperation issues.

Japan is Vietnam's leading economic partner, ranking first in ODA provision, second in labor cooperation, third in investment and tourism, and fourth in trade. Bilateral trade turnover in 2022 reached nearly 50 billion USD, of which Vietnam exported 24.2 billion USD to Japan and imported 23.4 billion USD.

Vu Anh

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