The Vietnam-Japan cultural exchange festival 2018 will take place in Son Tra district of the central city of Da Nang from July 27-29, according to the municipal People’s Committee.

The festival will feature a wide range of activities such as a seminar to promote Japanese tourism in Da Nang, an urban development forum, a ceremony to mark the 45^th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties (September 21, 1973 – 2018) and to celebrate the 2018 Vietnam-Japan cultural exchange festival.

There will also be art performances and exchanges, and U13 and U15 friendly football matches between Da Nang and Vonds Ichihara football clubs.

The event is part of activities to mark the 45^th anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties, aiming to heighten the mutual understanding and cultural exchanges between the two countries and deepen the friendship ties between Da Nang and Japanese localities through cultural exchanges and cooperation activities in different fields.

It also aims to attract more international visitors to Danang, especially Japanese tourists, while helping to promote the Da Nang-Narita and Da Nang-Osaka direct air routes.

Meanwhile, on July 13^th, the Special Toyota Concert 2018 will take place at the Vietnam National Academy of Music in Hanoi .

The programme will be jointly organised by Toyota Motor Vietnam and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra (VNSO), aiming to enhance culture and music exchange between the two countries.

The concert will be conducted by Japanese conductor Testuji Honna and feature performances by talented cello soloist Miyata Dai of Japan and Vietnamese artists.

This is the 21^st edition of the annual Toyota Concert funded by Toyota Vietnam Foundation, which was first held in 1998.

Vietnam - Japan bilateral relationship is now at its best time in history since the establishment of diplomatic relationship 45 years ago. Senior leaders of the two sides have maintained regular visits and meetings at international and regional forums.

Japan has been the leading economic partner of Vietnam, with two-way trade revenue reaching USD 33.4 billion in 2017, a rise of 16.8 per cent over 2016. In the first three months of 2018, the figure reached USD 8.7 billion, up 15.7 per cent over the same period last year.

In 2017, Japanese investment in Vietnam hit a record high at USD 9.11 billion, making it the biggest investor in Vietnam. As of March 2018, Japan has run 3,693 FDI projects in Vietnam worth USD 49.839 billion, ranking second in 116 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

So far, Japan has been the biggest ODA provider of Vietnam, focusing on infrastructure building, competitiveness enhancement, high-quality human resource training and climate change, greatly contributing to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.

Bilateral partnership in security-defence, agriculture, education-training, and labour have also been fruitful. People-to-people exchange, cultural and tourism affiliation have seen strong development./.

VNF