Promoting Vietnam-Japan cooperation in the medical field

On the occasion of the 52nd anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations (1973-2025), the Finance-Investment Newspaper organized a discussion on "Vietnam-Japan Relations: New Dynamics, New Heights" with the participation of Mr. Ito Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam; Dr. Dang Quang Tan, Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Health); Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Department ( Ministry of Finance ) and Mr. Benjamin Ping, General Director of Takeda Vietnam.

Mr. Ito Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Vietnam, said that in the new development phase of Vietnam-Japan relations, the two countries are expanding cooperation to many strategic areas, including innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, artificial intelligence (AI) and the semiconductor industry. The two governments have agreed to consider these as new pillars in Vietnam-Japan relations to promote sustainable development.

Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki.

Deputy Director of the Foreign Investment Agency, Ministry of Finance, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan said that Japan is currently the largest ODA donor, the third largest foreign investor, and the fourth largest trade and tourism partner of Vietnam. Up to now, Japan has more than 5,600 investment projects in Vietnam with a total registered capital exceeding 78 billion USD.

The advantages of Japanese investment are very similar to the Vietnamese Government's priorities towards sustainable economic development, with many priority areas such as high technology, digital transformation, science and technology, manufacturing and healthcare. In particular, healthcare continues to be considered one of the priority areas in bilateral cooperation, with specific and timely steps forward.

Deputy Director of Foreign Investment Agency, Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan discussed at the seminar.

It is known that the two countries are promoting many cooperation programs in the fields of preventive medicine, digital health care and elderly care, towards a more effective and sustainable health system. Japan is currently supporting Vietnam in improving the capacity of grassroots health care, narrowing the gap in access to services between regions, and strengthening the capacity to prevent non-communicable and infectious diseases.

Dr. Dang Quang Tan affirmed: Japan is one of the important cooperation partners in the Vietnamese health sector. Bilateral cooperation has become a strategic, long-term relationship. This foundation is reinforced by the 2019 Memorandum of Cooperation in the health sector between the Vietnamese Ministry of Health and the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. On that basis, many projects have been implemented on three pillars: modern infrastructure, advanced equipment and capacity development.

The healthcare sector in Vietnam is being oriented towards development based on innovation, application of high technology, improvement of service quality, ensuring sustainability and international integration. Vietnam welcomes Japanese enterprises to share their experience, technology and advanced management models to promote deeper cooperation in many fields such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, food safety and traditional medicine, hospital management, etc.

At the seminar, speakers emphasized the important role of the public-private partnership (PPP) model in building a sustainable healthcare system. Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Ito Naoki assessed that the Japanese private sector is increasingly playing an important role in this process. Takeda is a typical example of the role of Japanese enterprises in Vietnam in the healthcare sector, as the company has developed a dengue vaccine. This is the first dengue vaccine licensed for circulation in Vietnam.

“Through the cooperation activities of Japanese companies in the medical field, I believe that the quality of health care and the capacity of the Vietnamese medical sector will continue to be improved,” said the Japanese Ambassador.

Delegates also said that Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health has focused on preventive medicine and strengthening the health system, which is an opportunity for foreign corporations to participate in efforts to reduce the burden of disease in Vietnam.

MINH HOANG

Source: https://nhandan.vn/thuc-day-hop-tac-viet-nam-nhat-ban-trong-linh-vuc-y-te-post915560.html