Vietnam, Japan upgrade to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

After talks on the afternoon of November 27, President Vo Van Thuong and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio jointly issued a Joint Statement on the relationship "Comprehensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world ".

The official welcoming ceremonyfor the President and his wife at the Japanese Prime Minister's Office was hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his wife.

Within the framework of the official visit to Japan , on November 27, 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 solemn reception hosted by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and his wife.

President Vo Van Thuong respectfully thanked the Japanese Government and people for their warm, friendly and thoughtful welcome; and thanked and appreciated Prime Minister Kishida Fumio's special attention, affection and important contributions to the development of bilateral relations in his various positions. President Vo Van Thuong conveyed the greetings, regards and invitation to visit Vietnam from General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and senior leaders of Vietnam to the King and Queen, 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 bilateral relations with high political trust, close ties in the fields of economy, human resources and local cooperation.

President Vo Van Thuong said that the Vietnam-Japan relationship is a typical model of effective and sincere cooperation, with great potential and prospects. On that basis, 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 common needs and 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 channels of the Party, State, Government, and National Assembly; continue to effectively implement existing cooperation dialogue mechanisms between ministries and sectors of the two countries and promote the establishment of new cooperation mechanisms; enhance 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 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.

The two leaders agreed to continue strengthening economic ties between the two countries.

Appreciating the contribution of Japanese 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, and healthcare; promote large-scale investment by Japanese enterprises in Vietnam and technology transfer in technology fields; strengthen high-quality agricultural cooperation, create favorable conditions for Vietnamese aquatic products and fruits to enter Japan, including early opening of the market for green-skin pomelos and then Vietnamese passion fruit.

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

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 and complicated developments in the regional and world 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, etc.

Prime Minister Kishida affirmed his support for Vietnam to host APEC Year 2027, and for Vietnam and Asian countries to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. President Vo Van Thuong affirmed that Vietnam will actively cooperate and contribute to the success of the Summit to celebrate the 50th anniversary of ASEAN-Japan relations in December.

After the talks, the two leaders issued a Joint Statement on upgrading the Vietnam-Japan relationship to "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World", and witnessed the signing of cooperation documents between the two countries' ministries and branches, such as the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of energy conversion between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of Vietnam and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan, the Diplomatic Note on the project to improve the capacity of preserving and restoring cultural heritages of the Vietnam National Museum of History, the Diplomatic Note on the project to improve the capacity of medical recovery and ensure health security during and after the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam, the Non-project to Provide equipment for the Coast Guard Training and Professional Development Center, the Implementation 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 effectively exploiting the LOTUSat-1 satellite in the phase 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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