PM to attend Mekong-Japan Summit for closer bilateral ties with strategic partner

The Vietnamese Government chief also plans to meet with his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama to re-affirm Việt Nam’s consistent policy to revitalize the bilateral relationship between the two strategic partners.

This is the first visit made by the Vietnamese Government’s top leader to the Northeast Asian country since the new Cabinet came into power there in September.

The visit came at a time when the bilateral ties are experiencing ever big leaps forward under the spirit of the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.

In recent years, the two sides have regularly exchanged series of delegations at all levels, which help to concretize areas of cooperation in all scales.

Now, Japan becomes Việt Nam’s leading economic partner, biggest ODA provider (US $14 billion up to present), second largest export market (over US $8 billion in 2008), and the fourth biggest investor (over US $17 billion in 2008).

In 2006, the two countries agreed to increase the two-way trade volume to US $15 billion by 2010.

Experts say that with the Việt Nam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) which came into effect last month, the above target is within reach.

The Japanese Government pledged to grant more ODA to Việt Nam, including US $500 million committed by PM Yukio Hatoyama in late September.

Việt Nam and Japan are at the same intersection as the later wants to further deploy its pro-Asia diplomacy meanwhile the former always attaches importance to ties with East Asia.

By Hải Minh