General Secretary To Lam received the Chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance

On the afternoon of August 7, General Secretary To Lam received Ms. Obuchi Yuko, Member of the Japanese National Assembly, Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, on the occasion of Ms. Obuchi Yuko and the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance delegation's visit to Vietnam.

At the reception, General Secretary To Lam welcomed the first visit to Vietnam by Ms. Obuchi Yuko in her capacity as Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, and the first visit to Vietnam by a leader of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance since the two countries upgraded their relations; affirming that the visit is of great significance, making a positive contribution to deepening the Vietnam-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

Congratulating Ms. Obuchi Yuko on being elected as Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, the General Secretary asked Ms. Obuchi Yuko to continue the tradition and sentiments of the Alliance leaders such as the late Prime Minister Obuchi, former Chairman Nikai, and former Chairman Takebe, and continue to support and actively contribute to the development of Vietnam-Japan relations.

General Secretary To Lam and Ms. Obuchi Yuko, Member of the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party, Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

Emphasizing that the exchange and connection between the two countries has a history of more than 1,300 years, General Secretary To Lam expressed his joy and satisfaction when witnessing that after nearly 2 years of upgrading the relationship to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the Vietnam - Japan relationship is in a good, substantive and comprehensive development stage in all fields with high political trust, high-level and all-level exchanges, on all channels taking place vigorously, cooperation in fields from economy, connecting human resources, labor, education and training, cooperation in new fields such as green transformation, digital transformation... local, cultural and people-to-people exchanges are increasingly deeper.

Evaluating the rich and meaningful program of activities of the Parliamentary Union Leadership Delegation during this visit to Vietnam, including attending an investment promotion event in Can Tho city, the General Secretary believed that this visit to Vietnam by the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Union Delegation will contribute to promoting cooperation between the two countries in the fields of agricultural cooperation and climate change response in the Mekong Delta region.

President of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance Obuchi Yuko expressed her honor and gratitude to General Secretary To Lam for taking the time to receive the delegation and was grateful for the warm welcome that the Vietnamese leaders have given to the Friendship Parliamentary Alliance delegations in the past time. Sharing the fact that her father, the late Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo, former President of the Parliamentary Alliance, visited Vietnam on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan relations (1998), Ms. Obuchi Yuko affirmed that she will inherit the tradition, continue to be the next generation of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, and contribute to the Vietnam-Japan relationship as directed by the General Secretary.

Conveying Prime Minister Ishiba's thanks for the warm welcome of the General Secretary and Vietnamese leaders during his visit to Vietnam last April, Ms. Obuchi Yuko expressed her deep impression of the rapid economic development, as well as the vitality of the country and people of Vietnam through her visits to Vietnam; believing that with a young population, the highest economic growth rate in Southeast Asia and a high level of education, Vietnam will develop further in the coming time.

Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance Obuchi Yuko affirmed that Japan supports Vietnam's renovation process and wishes to accompany Vietnam in realizing development goals in the new era.

General Secretary To Lam and Ms. Obuchi Yuko, Member of the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party, Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance. Photo: Thong Nhat - VNA

Ms. Obuchi Yuko also emphasized the importance of further strengthening the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Japan in many fields, not only politics, economics, trade, investment, but also defense, security, and people-to-people exchange, especially in the context of the new world situation.

Ms. Obuchi Yuko affirmed that she will closely coordinate and jointly promote the Vietnam-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to enter a new stage of development; continue to make efforts to expand exchange activities between the two countries, including delegation exchanges at all levels, including parliamentary exchanges between the two Parliamentary Friendship Groups; pay attention to promoting cooperation between the two countries in the fields of infrastructure, emission reduction, green transformation, and urban railway construction; and wish Vietnam to successfully organize the 14th National Party Congress in 2026.

Sharing the two development goals by 2030, the 100th anniversary of the Party's founding, and 2045, the 100th anniversary of the country's founding, the strategy to innovate the economic model for rapid and sustainable growth in the new era, the era of the Vietnamese nation's rise, General Secretary To Lam affirmed: Vietnam is determined to carry out the innovation in the field of administrative institutional reform, deploy tasks and solutions in the "Four Pillars", with efforts to create breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation, streamlining the apparatus of the entire political system, removing bottlenecks to open up new development space, considering the private economic sector as an important driving force of the economy, actively integrating deeply and effectively into the international community, creating the most favorable conditions for people and businesses at home and abroad.

In that process, Vietnam persistently pursues a foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification, promoting increasingly deep and effective relations with partners, consistently considering Japan as one of the leading and long-term strategic partners, accompanying each other in the new era.

The General Secretary proposed that the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance support the increase of high-level delegation exchanges, promote security and defense cooperation, strengthen connectivity between the two economies, mobilize Japanese enterprises to actively participate in strategic and key infrastructure projects, new energy projects that are symbolic of Vietnam-Japan cooperation, promote the pillars of cooperation in science, technology, innovation, training of high-quality human resources, further deepen local cooperation, cultural exchange, etc.; pay attention to supporting and creating favorable conditions for the community of more than 600,000 Vietnamese people in Japan. The General Secretary suggested that the two sides strengthen coordination, share stances, and support each other at international and regional forums, especially in the context of many new developments in the world and regional situation.

At the meeting, parliamentarians and members of the leadership of the Friendship Parliamentary Union expressed their admiration for the renovation process in Vietnam under the strong leadership of General Secretary To Lam; expressed support for strengthening Japan-Vietnam relations as well as the desire to promote bilateral relations in all fields, implement the 2+2 Dialogue in 2025, coordinate to promote cooperation projects that are symbols of bilateral relations such as the Vietnam-Japan University project, infrastructure cooperation, energy, people-to-people exchange, etc.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man received the Chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance

At the reception, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man expressed his pleasure at meeting again with Chairwoman Obuchi Yuko and the key leaders of the Alliance after the meeting in December 2024 during the National Assembly Chairman's official visit to Japan; thanked the King, Queen, Government and National Assembly of Japan for the warm welcome given to the National Assembly Chairman and the delegation during the visit. Congratulating Ms. Obuchi Yuko on being elected as Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, the National Assembly Chairman welcomed her first visit to Vietnam in her new position; expressed his belief that she will continue the sentiments of previous Alliance leaders, including her father, the late Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo, to continue supporting and contributing to the development of Vietnam-Japan relations.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man received Ms. Obuchi Yuko, Member of the House of Representatives and Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

President of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance Obuchi Yuko thanked National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man for his warm welcome to the delegation; expressed condolences for the loss of Vietnamese victims in the tourist boat sinking in Ha Long Bay at the end of July as well as the damage and losses caused by landslides and flash floods in Dien Bien, Nghe An and Son La provinces recently. Sharing her impressions of Vietnam's rapid economic development and youthful vitality, President Obuchi Yuko affirmed her belief in the success of Vietnam's current renovation process as well as Vietnam's stronger development in the future.

Sharing about his cordial meeting with Speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives Nukaga Fukushiro during his visit to Switzerland at the end of July, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man said that, on the basis of the well-developed Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Vietnam and Japan need to continue to strengthen extensive, effective and substantive cooperation, contributing to promoting the relationship between the two countries to develop more strongly and comprehensively in the coming time. The National Assembly Chairman emphasized that the effective, rich and substantive cooperation between the Vietnamese National Assembly and the Japanese Parliament as well as the close exchange and cooperation between the two countries' Friendship Parliamentary Groups in recent times are bright spots in the relationship between the two countries, contributing to deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Vietnam and Japan.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man received Ms. Obuchi Yuko, Member of the House of Representatives and Chairwoman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

The National Assembly Chairwoman asked Ms. Obuchi Yuko to continue to pay attention and encourage the Japanese Government to accompany Vietnam in realizing development goals, industrialization and modernization, promoting new pillars of science and technology, through research cooperation, training of high-quality human resources, high-tech investment in the fields of agriculture, energy conversion, innovation, training of strategic-level officials and in the fields of green conversion, digital conversion, semiconductors, etc. At the same time, promote exchanges between parliamentarians, especially between the two Friendship Parliamentarian Groups, female parliamentarians and young parliamentarians; continue to promote the role of the Legislative Body in creating a favorable legal corridor to promote cooperation between the two countries in all fields; create favorable conditions for citizens of the two countries to live and work; continue to cooperate closely and support each other on regional and international issues of common concern as well as in cooperation mechanisms such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), etc.

National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man also highly appreciated the rich and meaningful program of activities of the Parliamentary Union's leadership delegation during this visit to Vietnam, including attending an investment promotion event in Can Tho city; believing that this event will open up many new cooperation opportunities between the Mekong Delta provinces and Japanese localities.

Accepting the opinion of the National Assembly Chairman, Ms. Obuchi Yuko affirmed that she will further promote parliamentary exchange activities between the two countries, as well as pay attention to enhancing economic cooperation as the main content of cooperation between the two countries, especially in the areas that the leaders of the two countries have agreed on such as: digital transformation, green transformation, semiconductor human resource development, investment, infrastructure, urban railways, local cooperation and cultural exchange. Ms. Obuchi Yuko expressed her hope that through attending the "Meeting Japan - Mekong Delta" event in Can Tho city during her visit to Vietnam this time, the Alliance's Board of Directors and members of the delegation will better understand the cooperation potential of the Mekong Delta in particular and localities of Vietnam in general.

At the reception, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man sent congratulations to President of the Japanese House of Councillors Sekiguchi Masakazu on the occasion of his re-election and extended invitations to visit Vietnam soon to House Speaker Nukaga and Senate President Sekiguchi.

According to VNA

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/tong-bi-thu-to-lam-tiep-chu-tich-lien-minh-nghi-si-huu-nghi-nhat-viet-2429813.html