On October 11, on the occasion of attending the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related conferences in Vientiane, Laos, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. This was the first meeting between the two Prime Ministers since Mr. Ishiba took office as Prime Minister of Japan.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh congratulated Mr. Shigeru Ishiba on his election as Chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Prime Minister of Japan. The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam considers Japan a reliable, important and long-term partner; and supports Japan in actively contributing to peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized the importance of promoting economic cooperation, the main pillar of the bilateral relationship, strengthening economic links, cooperation to ensure economic security; accelerating the progress of important cooperation projects; and pledging to continue creating favorable conditions for more than 2,000 Japanese enterprises to cooperate in investment and mutually beneficial business in Vietnam.
The Prime Minister proposed that Japan consider providing Vietnam with new ODA loans for strategic infrastructure development projects, urban railways, high-speed railways, and climate change adaptation in Vietnamese localities.
The Prime Minister also proposed expanding cooperation to new areas such as digital transformation, green transformation, circular economy, semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI); deepening labor cooperation, training high-quality human resources; promoting local cooperation, people-to-people exchange between the two countries; hoping that Japan will continue to have policies to encourage and support Vietnamese people in Japan.
The Prime Minister affirmed that Vietnam will closely coordinate with Japan towards the success of EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Kansai.
The Japanese Prime Minister expressed his pleasure at meeting the Vietnamese Prime Minister for the first time and highly appreciated Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's contributions to the development of Vietnam - Japan relations.
Prime Minister Ishiba affirmed that Vietnam is a key partner in implementing the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Initiative; he hopes to deepen and deepen the Vietnam-Japan relationship.
Emphasizing the importance of Vietnamese human resources for the development of the Japanese economy, Prime Minister Ishiba affirmed that he will continue to create conditions for Vietnamese workers and trainees to study and work in Japan through the "Employment Program for Skills Development", and is ready to support Vietnam in training high-quality human resources.
The Japanese Prime Minister expressed his high agreement with the Vietnamese Prime Minister's proposals on enhancing economic, trade and investment cooperation, pledging to coordinate to remove obstacles and create favorable conditions for cooperation between the two countries.
The two Prime Ministers agreed to further enhance political trust through high-level exchanges and contacts; promote defense and security cooperation, effectively implement existing dialogue and cooperation mechanisms, and respond to common challenges in the region.
