PM Pham Minh Chinh at the phone talks (Photo: VNA)

Congratulating Chinh on his election as the Prime Minister of Vietnam and speaking highly of his contribution to the bilateral relations as Chairman of the Vietnam – Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group, Suga expected the Vietnamese PM to make further efforts to deepen the partnership and invited him to soon visit Japan.

For his part, Chinh highly valued Japan’s effective cooperation and assistance toward Vietnam’s development and expressed his willingness to visit Japan again at an appropriate time.

To step up practical and effective collaboration between the two nations, the Vietnamese PM suggested both sides focus on five cooperation areas. They include infrastructure development in transport, environment, and digital transformation, among others; access to supply sources of and technology transfer on vaccines against COVID-19; encouraging Japanese investment in Vietnam for supply chain diversification, support industry development, and innovation in association with technology transfer; and increasing the grant of scholarships and reception of Vietnamese interns to work in Japan.

Suga affirmed Japan’s consistent policy of attaching importance to the relations with Vietnam, and pledged to continue support for Vietnam in infrastructure development, especially in the fields of transport, energy, environment, and space cooperation.

He underscored that Japan will offer Vietnam maximum support and collaboration to ensure that the nation has its necessary amount of COVID-19 vaccines.

According to Suga, in the process of promoting supply chain diversification, the waves of Japanese investment into Vietnam have increased sharply. Hoping Vietnam will improve its business climate, he expressed his willingness to assist the Southeast Asian nation in digital transformation and IT development. He also pledged to make efforts to soon receive Vietnamese trainees, and continue supporting Vietnam in training high-quality human resources.

The two PMs agreed to strengthen strategic dialogue between Vietnamese and Japanese ministries, sectors, and localities, and coordination to handle issues arising in the bilateral relations.

They said they will work together in organising activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan (in 2023) commensurate with the strategic partnership.

The two leaders also discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea issue. They agreed to continue working closely at multilateral forums, particularly at the United Nations and ASEAN./.

BTA