Leader's visit to Japan helps raise Vietnam's global stature

The official visit to Japan made by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, along with his successful tours to China and the US earlier this year, has contributed to improving the stature of Vietnam and its position in the world, a senior official has said.

 

Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

Providing further details on the Japan visit, Chairman of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations Hoang Binh Quan told the press that it was the first official visit to the Northeast Asian country made by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, widely anticipated by both sides.

 

The tour was made at a time when bilateral ties are developing positively and a large number of co-operation opportunities are opening up a new vision for the growth of the two countries’ extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.

 

The Vietnamese leader and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a joint vision statement on the countries’ relations, which illustrated a new, positive and solid stride in their connections, Quan said.

 

He highlighted significant outcomes of the visit, elaborating that the tour helped to deepen the nations’ political trust. Japan reaffirmed the importance it attaches to the relationship with Vietnam – one of its most important partners in the region – while Vietnam reiterated that Japan is its leading and long-term partner.

 

During the visit, the two sides agreed to boost economic connectivity critical to their relations with a focus on development strategy connectivity, production capacity connectivity, and human resources connectivity.

 

Japan pledged JPY 100 billion (US$836.28 million) of official development assistance (ODA) to three major projects in Vietnam and promised to actively consider the provision of JPY 300 billion (US$2.5 billion) of ODA in 2015, the official noted, adding that the two sides signed a mid to long-term vision on agricultural co-operation. Japan also officially declared the opening of its market to Vietnamese mangoes.

 

Vietnam and Japan were unanimous in expanding collaboration in other areas, such as in cultural and people-to-people exchanges, education-training, science-technology, and defence exchanges. Japan will support Vietnam in joining United Nations peace-keeping activities and improving law enforcement capacity at sea.

 

Both sides highlighted the continued close co-ordination at regional and international forums on issues of shared concern. Vietnam highly valued Japan ’s commitment to follow the path of peaceful development and endorsed the Northeast Asian nation’s active contributions to regional and global peace, co-operation and development.

 

According to Quan, the Vietnamese Party and State’s consistent foreign policy during the Doi moi (Renewal) period focuses on independence, self-reliance, peace, co-operation and development, as well as the diversification and multilateralisation of relations. As demonstrated via General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s visits to China, the US and Japan this year.

 

Those tours helped to solidify Vietnam ’s relations with three of the world’s most dominant powers, the Party commission chairman said, adding that the country fully recovered co-operation and oriented its links with China towards healthy and positive development.

 

The historic visit to the US was a milestone opening up a new chapter and established a political foundation for bilateral relations to reach a new height. Meanwhile, the Japan visit created a new vision to comprehensively foster and deepen the two countries’ extensive strategic partnership, he stressed.

 

He concluded that the successful tours made by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong intensified Vietnam’s important external relations and considerably elevated the global status of the country and the Party, ultimately helping to create a favourable international environment for national development and protection.

 

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)