The agreement was reached during talks in Hanoi on January 16 between Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe who arrived here the same day for an official visit.

They agreed to increase delegation visits and dialogues at all levels to strengthen the friendship and cooperation.

The two countries will work closely together to effectively implement high-level agreements on economic cooperation, primarily for infrastructure construction projects, they said.

Japan has committed to helping Vietnam implement a number of key infrastructure projects, including those to build the trans-national expressway, Lach Huyen seaport and Ninh Thuan 2 nuclear power plant, as well as a project to exploit and process rare earth.

It is also implementing a pilot project to receive Vietnamese orderlies.

PM Dung thanked Japan, and PM Abe himself, for committing high levels of official development assistance (ODA) capital amounting to US$1.7 billion to Vietnam’s socio-economic development.

He appreciated Japanese assistance for formulating Vietnamese development strategies, especially the national industrialization strategy within the framework of the Vietnam-Japan cooperation towards 2020 and the vision for 2030.

Shinzo Abe confirmed that Vietnam is an important partner of Japan and the two countries can support each other in various areas, notably in economics.

Japan will further assist Vietnam to implement infrastructure construction projects and draw up development strategies, Abe told Dung.

He announced the Japanese government’s decision to grant an additional US$500 million in ODA to help Vietnam implement three key infrastructure construction projects.

Both host and guest agreed that Vietnam and Japan will increase cooperation in settling regional and international issues of mutual concern.

They will also work closely together to organize activities marking 40 years of ASEAN-Japan dialogue relations in 2013.

The two PMs underlined the need to cooperate closely to maintain peace, stability, cooperation and prosperity in the region, while settling any disputes through peaceful negotiations and according to international law.

Dung and Abe took the opportunity to announce the start of the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year 2013, marking 40 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

In the evening, PM Dung gave a banquet in honour of PM Abe and his entourage.

Hanoi is one of the Japanese PM’s stopovers during his Southeast Asian tour, the first overseas trip after he took office last month. This is Abe’s second visit to Vietnam.   

Japan is one of Vietnam’s leading economic partners, and it is also the first country of the Group Seven recognizing Vietnam’s market economy status. It is Vietnam’s biggest ODA donor, No 1 investor and third biggest trade partner.

PMs Nguyen Tan Dung and Shiinzo Abe signed a statement in 2009, establishing the Vietnam-Japan strategic partnership.

VOV