Vietnam, Japan upgrade to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Following talks on the afternoon of November 27th, President Vo Van Thuong and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio jointly issued a Joint Statement on the "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World".

The official welcoming ceremony for the President and his wife at the Japanese Prime Minister's Office was presided over by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his wife.

During his official visit to Japan , on November 27th, at the Japanese Prime Minister's Office, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife attended the official welcoming ceremony, held talks, delivered a joint press statement, and attended a grand reception hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his wife.

President Vo Van Thuong expressed his sincere gratitude for the warm, cordial, and thoughtful welcome from the Government and people of Japan; and thanked and highly appreciated the special attention, affection, and important contributions of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to the development of bilateral relations in various capacities. President Vo Van Thuong conveyed the greetings, regards, and invitation to visit Vietnam soon from General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and other high-ranking Vietnamese leaders to the Emperor and Empress, Prime Minister Kishida, and other Japanese leaders.

Prime Minister Kishida warmly welcomed President Vo Van Thuong and his wife on their first official visit to Japan in the year marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations.

In an atmosphere of friendship, cordiality and trust, President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Kishida reviewed the bilateral relationship over the past 50 years and expressed satisfaction with the strong, comprehensive and substantive development in all areas of the bilateral relationship with high political trust, close ties in the fields of economy, human resources and local cooperation.

President Vo Van Thuong stated that the Vietnam-Japan relationship is a prime example of effective and sincere cooperation, with extremely broad potential and prospects. Based on this, the two leaders agreed to upgrade the bilateral relationship to a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World".

President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio review the honor guard.

On the basis of the new relationship framework, the two leaders had an in-depth exchange of views on Vietnam-Japan relations, and agreed on major directions and measures to deepen bilateral cooperation, opening a new period of stronger and more extensive development, meeting the needs and common interests of both countries and contributing to peace and stability in the region and the world.

The two leaders agreed to increase annual high-level exchanges and contacts in various flexible forms, through the Party, State, Government and National Assembly channels; continue to effectively implement existing cooperation dialogue mechanisms between the two countries' ministries and sectors and promote the establishment of new cooperation mechanisms; and strengthen substantive and effective cooperation in the defense field on the basis of the Joint Vision Statement on Vietnam-Japan Defense Cooperation.

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, green transformation, etc.

Prime Minister Kishida affirmed to continue supporting Vietnam in industrialisation and modernisation, building an independent, self-reliant economy, and deeply integrating internationally 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.

The two leaders agreed to further strengthen economic ties between the two countries.

Appreciating the contribution of Japan's ODA capital to Vietnam's socio-economic development, 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 (roads, railways, energy, etc.), digital transformation, climate change response, healthcare; promoting large-scale investment by Japanese enterprises in Vietnam and technology transfer in technology fields; enhancing high-quality agricultural cooperation, creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese aquatic products and fruits to enter Japan, including soon opening the market for green-skin pomelos and then Vietnamese passion fruit.

To enhance mutual understanding and trust between the people of the two countries, and to contribute to the sustainable and long-term development of Vietnam-Japan cooperation, the two leaders agreed to strengthen human resource connectivity, local cooperation, tourism, cultural exchange, and people-to-people exchanges.

President Vo Van Thuong proposed considering holding an annual "Local Cooperation Forum" in rotation in localities of the two countries; hoping that Japan will continue to support Vietnam in training high-quality human resources, loosen entry procedures, soon issue e-visas and multiple-entry visas for Vietnamese citizens entering Japan for personal purposes and move towards visa exemption for Vietnamese citizens.

President Vo Van Thuong and Prime Minister Kishida Fumio co-chaired the talks.

In the context of the rapidly evolving and complicated regional and global situation, the two sides affirmed to continue to closely coordinate on regional and international issues of mutual concern, actively contributing to maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world; supporting each other at multilateral forums, international and regional organizations such as the United Nations, APEC, ASEAN, OECD, RCEP, CPTPP...

Prime Minister Kishida affirmed his support for Vietnam hosting APEC Year 2027 and for Vietnam and other Asian countries in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. President Vo Van Thuong affirmed that Vietnam will actively cooperate and contribute to the success of the ASEAN-Japan 50th Anniversary Summit in December.

Following the talks, the two leaders jointly issued a Statement on upgrading Vietnam-Japan relations to a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World," and witnessed the signing of cooperation documents between ministries and agencies of the two countries, such as the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of energy transition between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan; the Exchange of Notes on a project to enhance the capacity for preservation and restoration of cultural heritage at the Vietnam National Museum of History; the Exchange of Notes on a project to enhance medical recovery capacity and ensure health security during and after the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam; the Project to provide equipment for the Coast Guard Training and Professional Development Center; and the Implementation Agreement between the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology and the Japan Aerospace Exploitation Agency (JAXA) on supporting the operation of the Vietnam Space Center and the efficient exploitation of the LOTUSat-1 satellite in phase 1. 2024-2029. At the same time, on this occasion, the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) of Japan sent the two Leaders the Policy Advisory report “Vietnam 2045”.

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