Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will pay an official visit to Japan from December 12 – 15 and attend the ASEAN – Japan Commemorative Summit to mark the 40th anniversary of the ASEAN – Japan dialogue relations. He will also attend the fifth Mekong – Japan Summit in Tokyo on this occasion. The visit will be made at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe. Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic ties on September 21, 1973 and they opened their embassies two years later. Japan opened its General Consulate in HCM City, and Vietnam opened its General Consulate in Osaka and Fukuoka. In June 2010 the Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs appointed Yukihisa Hirano the Vietnamese Honorary Consul to Nagoya city of Aichi Prefecture, and Nakajima Taro the Vietnamese Honorary Consul to Kushiro City of Hokkaido Prefecture. Bilateral relations have developed vigorously in various areas, spanning politics, economics, culture and education. In 2002 both countries agreed to build their relations towards ‘reliable, stable and long-term partnership’. During a Japan visit in April 2009 by Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, Vietnam and Japan agreed to lift their relations to the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe selected Vietnam as his first venue for an overseas trip after he took office in January 2013, showing Japan’s desire to strengthen ties with Vietnam. Source: VOV