Science and technology are the new pillars in Vietnam-Japan relations.

Economic cooperation continues to be identified as the main pillar, while cooperation in science and technology, innovation, and training of high-quality human resources are agreed upon by the Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Japan as new pillars for bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru before their meeting - Photo: NGUYEN KHANH

On April 28, following the official welcoming ceremony, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru held talks at the Government headquarters in Hanoi .

Sincerity, trust, mutual benefit

During the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru affirmed that Japan will continue to stand alongside Vietnam in the new era, supporting Vietnam's socio-economic development, building an independent and self-reliant economy, implementing industrialization and modernization, and developing science and technology.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Vietnam considers Japan one of its most reliable and important partners. He assessed that the two countries have increasingly broad potential for cooperation, based on political trust, long-standing people-to-people exchanges, and complementary strengths.

Expressing gratitude and appreciation for the contributions of ODA loans and investments from Japanese businesses in Vietnam, he also shared solutions within the strategic quartet for implementing the country's industrialization and modernization.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the talks - Photo: DOAN BAC

During the talks, the two sides exchanged views and reached many common understandings on major directions and measures to elevate bilateral relations to a new level, entering a new era.

The guiding principle is "sincerity, affection, trust, substance, effectiveness, and mutual benefit" across five areas: political relations; economics and human resource connectivity; security and defense; science and technology and green transformation; and cooperation in multilateral forums.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to further strengthen political trust and promote regular meetings between them. In addition, they agreed to enhance substantive defense and security cooperation, upgrade the Strategic Partnership dialogue mechanism at the Deputy Foreign Minister level to a 2+2 dialogue at the Deputy Foreign Minister-Defense level, and hold the first meeting in 2025.

The two Prime Ministers agreed to deepen economic cooperation – a key pillar of their relationship – and promote more substantive and sustainable economic linkages. This will enable them to support each other's development amidst the current challenging international economic situation.

Regarding ODA, the two leaders agreed to promote the revitalization of new-generation ODA cooperation for strategic infrastructure projects, and to strengthen substantive, effective, and sustainable investment and trade cooperation.

Both sides also agreed to promote high-tech agricultural cooperation linked to ensuring the food supply chain, and signed a medium- and long-term vision on agricultural cooperation for the period 2025-2030 in 2025.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed Vietnam's determination to improve the investment and business environment to create favorable conditions for Japanese investors to continue investing and doing business successfully in Vietnam.

Science and technology as the new pillar

Based on the similarities in development strategies based on science and technology and digital transformation, the two Prime Ministers agreed to identify cooperation in science and technology, innovation, and training of high-quality human resources as new pillars of bilateral relations.

The two leaders agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as digital economic development, semiconductors, quantum computing, atomic energy, IT, artificial intelligence, green transformation, and energy transition.

They also agreed to enhance the effectiveness of cooperation mechanisms and frameworks in science and technology through organizing the 5th session of the Joint Committee on Science and Technology in 2026, and to explore the possibility of establishing a new cooperation mechanism in science and technology based on public-private partnerships.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested Japan to continue supporting Vietnam in training high-quality human resources and to strengthen cooperation between research and training institutions, the scientific community, and businesses of the two countries.

In addition, he suggested that Japan increase the provision of scholarships for Vietnamese students and researchers, as well as support the community of 70 Vietnamese businesses and 5,000 IT engineers to actively participate in Japan's IT supply chain and digital transformation process.

Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru at the talks - Photo: DOAN BAC

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru affirmed that Japan will support joint research projects and doctoral training in semiconductors in Vietnam through the Japan-ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Project (NEXUS).

He also announced that Japan hopes to implement 15 energy transition projects worth over $20 billion under the Asian Energy Transition Initiative (AETI) and the Asian Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

To facilitate the Vietnamese community in Japan, both sides agreed to initiate negotiations on a Vietnam-Japan Social Security Agreement in 2025 and to promote the development of a memorandum of cooperation on a new labor program called "Employment for Skill Development".

Both sides agreed to continue discussions on simplifying procedures and expanding the scope of visa issuance for Vietnamese citizens entering Japan, aiming for 2 million reciprocal tourist visits per year.

The two prime ministers witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents between the two sides - Photo: DOAN BAC

Discussing regional and international issues, the two Prime Ministers agreed to continue to coordinate closely in international and regional forums such as ASEAN, the Mekong, and the United Nations.

Both sides affirmed the importance of maintaining an international order and a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based trading system, based on respect for the fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter.

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru affirmed that Japan will closely cooperate with and support Vietnam in successfully hosting APEC 2027 and will actively study the possibility of sending a Japanese government representative to the signing ceremony of the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime to be held in Hanoi in 2025.

Following the talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents between ministries and agencies of the two countries.

The two leaders also held a joint press conference and announced the main results of their talks. On the same day, the two Prime Ministers attended and delivered important speeches at the Vietnam-Japan Forum on cooperation in strategic industries, high technology, green transformation, and semiconductors.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/khoa-hoc-cong-nghe-la-tru-cot-moi-trong-quan-he-viet-nhat-20250428152219609.htm