The talks between Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on October 8 have made headlines in the Japanese press.

Prime Ministers Nguyen Xuan Phuc (front, right) and Shinzo Abe move to the press room after their talks in Tokyo on October 8.

The Vietnamese leader has been on a visit trip to Japan where he is also attending the 10^th Mekong-Japan Summit.

In an article on its website, television station NHK noted the two PMs agreed to enhance cooperation in maintaining maritime security to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Sankei newspaper quoted PM Phuc as saying at a press conference following the talks that maritime safety will promote cooperation in such fields as high-quality human resources training, high-tech agriculture and disaster prevention.

Regarding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), NHK said the two leaders agreed to bolster cooperation to promote trade liberalization and make the CPTPP come into force soon.

Meanwhile, PM Abe stressed that amid growing protectionism, the CPTPP members, including Japan and Vietnam, will push for free and fair trade, according to Sankei.

In other bilateral cooperation aspects, NHK quoted PM Abe as saying Japan and Vietnam will step up cooperation for development in the whole Mekong region as well as the two countries. For his part, PM Phuc said in Vietnam’s development strategy, Japan plays a very important role, and he wants bilateral relations to grow further.

Kyodo news agency reported that with this year marking the 45^th anniversary of the countries’ diplomatic ties, Abe pledged to promote people-to-people exchanges as Japan is preparing to introduce a new residence status for foreign workers. Japan also promised up to 1.2 billion JPY in aid to procure equipment to check food safety in Vietnam./.

( VNF/VNA )