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| An official welcome ceremony for Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was held on October 19 morning as part of the former’s official visit to Vietnam from October 18 at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. |
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| This is his first overseas trip by PM Suga since he took office last month and the second consecutive time that a Japanese prime minister has selected Vietnam as his first overseas destination after taking office. After Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic ties on September 21, 1973, the bilateral relationship has experienced rapid developments over the past years. The Vietnam-Japan relationship is now at its best since the establishment of the diplomatic ties, with high mutual trust. |
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| Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on podium of honour, listening to Vietnamese and Japanese anthems |
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| The two PMs review the Guard of Honor of the Vietnamese People's Army. The two sides have maintained important cooperation mechanisms such as the Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee co-chaired by foreign ministers of the two countries, the strategic partnership dialogue on external affairs, national defence and security at deputy foreign ministerial level, the defence policy dialogue at the deputy ministerial level, the deputy ministerial-level security dialogue, the joint committee on trade, energy and industry, the agricultural dialogue at the ministerial level, and the maritime policy dialogue at the ministerial level. |
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| Japan is one of the countries that have granted the largest non-refundable aid to Vietnam’s education and training sector. More than 80,000 Vietnamese students are studying in the country. Japan is cooperating with four Vietnamese universities to improve their training quality, while helping Vietnam with high-quality personnel training in science, technology, management and services, and Japanese language teaching. Relations between localities of the two countries are also thriving, with more than 70 cooperation documents inked so far. |
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| The Japanese leader’s visit would offer an opportunity for Vietnam to prove its safety and effective response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while promoting the country’s achievements in reform and socio-economic development, as well as efforts in improving its position in international area, implementing the foreign policy and international integration./. |
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| After the official welcome ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc holds talks with his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga. |
