President Vo Van Thuong received President of the House of Councilors of Japan Otsuji Hidehisa on an official visit to Vietnam (September 6, 2023). Photo: VNA

Accepting Japan's invitation, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife will officially visit Japan from November 27 to 30, 2023.

Vietnam and Japan officially established diplomatic relations on September 21, 1973.

After 50 years of nurturing and building, the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Japan have been continuously strengthened and developed comprehensively in all fields, becoming a bright spot in the foreign policy of independence, autonomy, diversification, and multilateralization of relations of the Party and Government of Vietnam.

Trusted political partner

Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1973, Vietnam and Japan successively established the relationship framework from "Reliable, long-term stable partnership" in 2002 to "Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia" in 2009 and "Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia" in 2014.

After establishing the Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia, cooperation between the two countries continues to develop well with high political trust.

This is the basis for comprehensive and extensive cooperation between the two countries to gain achievements in all fields.

Mutual trust and understanding are constantly being improved, creating a better foundation to promote bilateral cooperation programs and projects.

Japan is currently Vietnam's most important partner in all fields of politics, economics, defense-security, culture, education, labor, and tourism.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong receives Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio on an official visit to Vietnam (May 1, 2022). Photo: VNA

Visits as well as regular meetings of the two countries' leaders on the sidelines of international and regional conferences contributed to strengthening the trusting relationship between the two countries' leaders.

They set out great directions for effective development in bilateral relations in all fields.

Along with that, cooperation between ministries, branches, localities, and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries continue to be promoted, achieving many positive results.

"Yosakoi Summer Festival 2023" attracts many Vietnamese young people and teenagers to attend Pont de Long Bien pedestrian street (Hoai Duc district, Hanoi). Photo: VNA

The two countries also cooperate closely and effectively at international and regional forums, such as the United Nations, ASEAN+, APEC, and ASEM conferences.

They contribute to peace, stability, and development in the Asia-Pacific region, in accordance with Vietnam's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification, and multilateralization.

"Yosakoi Summer Festival 2023" attracts many Vietnamese young people and teenagers to attend at Pont de Long Bien pedestrian street (Hoai Duc district, Hanoi). Photo: VNA

Leading economic partner

Japan is the largest official development aid (ODA) provider to Vietnam, accounting for about 30% of the total capital of foreign donors to Vietnam, with US$29.3 billion, of which US$1.8 billion is non-refundable aid.

Japanese ODA capital makes an important contribution to the development of key infrastructure projects, creating motivation and promoting sustainable socio-economic development.

It supports the transfer of advanced technology and training of high-quality human resources for Vietnam.

Regarding trade, bilateral trade turnover between the two countries increased steadily over the years. Total two-way trade turnover in 2020 reached US$40 billion, in 2021 reached US$42.7 billion, in 2022 reached US$47.6 billion.

In the first 9 months of 2023, Vietnam's import-export turnover with Japan reached over US$32.9 billion, of which Vietnam's export turnover to Japan reached US$17.2 billion and the import turnover of Vietnam from Japan reached US$15.7 billion.

Regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), as of September 20, Japanese FDI into Vietnam reached US$71.3 billion with 5,198 valid projects, ranking 3/143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam.

In the first 9 months of 2023, Japan's total FDI capital in Vietnam reached about US$2.9 billion, an increase of 50% over the same period in 2022.

In the opposite direction, Vietnam has 106 investment projects in Japan with a total registered investment capital of about US$19.5 million.

With 50 years of trusted cooperation and extensive development, the official visit to Japan by President Vo Van Thuong is considered to be of historical significance.

It became one of the most prominent marks of the year commemorating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

According to Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio, this visit also conveys the message that the cooperation between Japan and Vietnam is not just a bilateral relationship but is becoming a relationship that can jointly contribute to peace and prosperity of the region and the world.

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