Vietnam-Japan: Reliable partners, extensive cooperation

At the invitation of the State of Japan, President Vo Van Thuong and his wife will pay an official visit to Japan from November 27 to 30, 2023.

The visit of President Vo Van Thuong is an extremely important event in a series of activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the two countries' official establishment of diplomatic relations (September 21, 1973 - September 21, 2023). The visit will contribute to further deepening the political, diplomatic, economic, trade and investment relations between the two countries.

Over 50 years of nurturing and building, the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Japan has been constantly consolidated and developed comprehensively in all fields, becoming a bright spot in implementing the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralization of international relations of the Party and State of Vietnam.

Trusted political partner

Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1973, Vietnam and Japan have successively established the framework of relations from Trusted and Stable Long-term 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, achieving many achievements in all fields. Mutual trust and understanding are constantly enhanced, creating an increasingly good foundation, promoting more bilateral cooperation programs and projects.

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

Senior leaders of the two countries maintain regular visits and contacts at international and regional forums.

On the Japanese side, Japanese Prime Ministers visited Vietnam a total of 12 times (Prime Minister Murayama visited Vietnam in August 1994, Prime Minister Hashimoto in January 1997, Prime Minister Obuch in December 1998, Prime Minister Koizumi in April 2002 and October 2005 during the ASEM 5 Summit, Prime Minister Naoto Kan in October 2010, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in November 2006, January 2013, January 2017 and November 2017, Prime Minister Suga in October 2020 and Prime Minister Kishida in May 2022.

Emperor Akihito and Empress (now the Empress Retired) paid a State visit to Vietnam from February 28 to March 5, 2017. Crown Prince Naruhito (the current Emperor) officially visited Vietnam in February 2009. Prince Akishino officially visited Vietnam in June 1999 and visited in his personal capacity in August 2012; after becoming Crown Prince, he and the Princess officially visited Vietnam in September 2023.

On the Vietnamese side, there were visits by General Secretary Do Muoi in April 1995; General Secretary Nong Duc Manh in October 2002 and April 2009; and General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in September 2015.

The President of Vietnam has also paid three visits to Japan, including those of President Nguyen Minh Triet (November 2007), President Truong Tan Sang (March 2014), and President Tran Dai Quang (May 2018).

Vietnamese Prime Ministers have visited Japan 21 times, including visits by Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet (April 1993), Prime Minister Phan Van Khai (March 1999, June 2001, April 2003, December 2003, June 2004, July 2005); Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (October 2006, May 2009, November 2009, October 2011, April 2012, December 2013, July 2015); Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (May 2016, June 2017, October 2018, June 2019, October 2019); Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (November 2021, May 2023).

The Chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam visited Japan four times, including visits to Chairman of the National Assembly Nong Duc Manh (December 1995); Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Van An (May 2002); Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong (March 2008); Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung (December 2012).

Regular visits and meetings between leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of international and regional conferences have contributed to strengthening the trust between the two countries' leaders and setting out major orientations for effective development of 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 and achieve many positive results.

In particular, the two sides have organized nearly 500 meaningful and practical activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. At the ceremony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations on September 21, Standing member of the Secretariat Truong Thi Mai emphasized that with a historical foundation of people-to-people exchange spanning more than 13 centuries, from the 8th century, especially over 50 years of cooperation and development, the Vietnam-Japan relationship is truly a reliable and closely-knit partner, increasingly developing in many fields from politics, economics, trade, investment, to human resources cooperation, culture, education, science-technology, local exchanges, people-to-people exchanges, etc.

The Standing Member of the Secretariat stated that Vietnam always considers Japan an important and long-term partner; at the same time, he expressed his belief that with sincerity, heart to heart connection between the people of the two countries, and with the support and consensus of the leaders of Vietnam and Japan, the two countries will "hand in hand" continue on the path to the future, cooperating more closely, cohesively and effectively.

Appreciating the partnership with Vietnam, last October, Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko chose Vietnam as one of the first countries to visit after taking office as Foreign Minister (September 13, 2023). Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa affirmed that Japan attaches importance to and wishes to promote the bilateral relationship to develop more strongly and substantially in all areas; and suggested that the two sides continue to promote the deepening of the Vietnam-Japan Extensive Strategic Partnership.

In addition to high-level delegation exchanges, the two countries are also effectively maintaining dialogue mechanisms, such as the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee co-chaired by the two Foreign Ministers since 2007; Vietnam-Japan Strategic Partnership Dialogue on diplomacy, security and defense at the Deputy Foreign Minister level since 2010; Vietnam-Japan Defense Policy Dialogue at the Deputy Minister level since November 2012; Security Dialogue at the Deputy Minister level since November 2013; Joint Committee on Trade, Energy and Industry since 2014; Agriculture Dialogue at the Ministerial level since 2014; Vietnam-Japan Maritime Policy Dialogue at the Ministerial level (established since December 2019).

The two countries also cooperate closely and effectively at international and regional forums such as the United Nations, ASEAN+ conferences, APEC, ASEM, etc., contributing increasingly positively to peace, stability and development in the Asia-Pacific region, in line with the Vietnamese State's foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, diversification and multilateralization.

Top economic partner

Japan is the largest official development assistance (ODA) donor, the second largest labor partner, the third largest investor, the third largest tourism partner, and the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam. Japan is also the first G7 country (Group of the world's leading industrialized countries) to recognize Vietnam's market economy status (October 2011).

Japan is the largest ODA provider to Vietnam, accounting for about 30% of the total capital of foreign donors to Vietnam, with 29.3 billion USD, of which non-refundable aid is 1.8 billion USD. Japan's ODA capital contributes significantly to the development of key infrastructure projects, creating positive spillover momentum, promoting sustainable socio-economic development; supporting the transfer of advanced technology, and training high-quality human resources for Vietnam.

Regarding trade, the two countries have granted each other Most Favored Nation Tariffs since 1999. Bilateral trade turnover between the two countries has increased steadily over the years. Total two-way trade turnover in 2020 reached 40 billion USD; in 2021 reached 42.7 billion USD; in 2022 reached 47.6 billion USD.

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

Japan is a major import market for means of transport and spare parts, machinery, equipment, tools and other spare parts, wood and wood products, seafood, computers and electronic products and components... in which Vietnam has strengths; in return, Japan mainly exports machinery, spare parts, equipment... to Vietnam.

Regarding foreign direct investment (FDI), Japan's FDI in Vietnam accumulated to September 20, 2023, reached 71.3 billion USD with 5,198 valid projects, ranking 3rd out of 143 countries and territories investing in Vietnam. In the first 9 months of 2023, Japan's total FDI capital in Vietnam reached about 2.9 billion USD, an increase of 50% over the same period in 2022. On the contrary, Vietnam has 106 investment projects in Japan with a total registered investment capital of about 19.5 million USD.

In the agricultural sector, the two countries have signed and implemented the Medium and Long-term Vision for Vietnam-Japan Agricultural Cooperation (September 2015, signed amendments in May 2018, agreed to implement the second phase 2020-2024 in December 2020).

Cooperation in responding to climate change continues to develop strongly and substantially, with Japan continuously providing ODA in recent years for Vietnam's climate change response projects.

In the fields of education and society, cooperation between Vietnam and Japan has also seen strong developments.

The two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Japan accepting Vietnamese nurses and caregivers; a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on the technical intern trainee system (June 2017); and a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on the Specific Skilled Worker system (May 2019). Vietnam is the country sending the most workers (about 345,000 people) out of 15 countries sending workers to Japan.

Vietnam is the first country in the world to officially introduce Japanese into secondary school teaching since 2003, and primary school since 2019. Meanwhile, Japan is one of the largest aid countries for Vietnam's education and training sector through ODA aid programs. The two sides have signed many cooperation documents in this field. The number of Vietnamese students in Japan currently reaches more than 51,000 people. Japan has supported the upgrading of 4 Vietnamese universities to high-quality universities; is cooperating to build the Vietnam-Japan University to train high-quality human resources for Vietnam in the fields of science and technology, management and services.

Localities of the two countries also strongly promoted cooperation, with more than 110 cooperation documents signed between localities; in which typical pairs of relationships include Ho Chi Minh City with Osaka (2007), Nagano (2017), Hanoi with Fukuoka (2008), Tokyo (2013), Da Nang with Sakai (2009), Yokohama (2013), Phu Tho-Nara (2014), Hue-Kyoto (2014), Hung Yen-Kanagawa (2015), Hai Phong-Niigata (2015)...

Japan is also one of the world's largest tourist markets with 18 million outbound tourists each year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Of these, Vietnam is a favorite tourist destination for Japanese tourists with about 1 million visitors each year.

At a very important time in the relationship between the two countries, with 50 years of trustful cooperation and extensive development, the official visit to Japan by President Vo Van Thuong is considered to have historical significance and has become one of the most prominent highlights of the year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

According to Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Yamada Takio, in addition to looking back at the progress in Japan-Vietnam relations up to now, this visit also conveys the message that cooperation between Japan and Vietnam is not only a bilateral relationship but is becoming a relationship that can jointly contribute to peace and prosperity in the region and the world.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the visit also aims to further promote cooperation in new areas such as green transformation, innovation, and digital transformation; strengthen relations between the two countries, serve the interests of the two peoples, for peace, development cooperation and prosperity in the region as well as around the world.

During the visit, President Vo Van Thuong is expected to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio; meet with the Emperor and Empress of Japan; meet with senior Japanese leaders, deliver a speech at the Japanese Parliament; attend the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic relations and a number of other important activities.