Deputy Foreign Minister Lê Thị Thu Hằng meets her Japanese counterpart Komura Masahiro on Friday. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyễn Khánh Hòa

TOKYO — The relationship between Việt Nam and Japan is currently at the finest development stage, with a historical milestone being the elevation of bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership in November 2023, Deputy Foreign Minister Lê Thị Thu Hằng told her Japanese counterpart Komura Masahiro during a meeting on April 5 in Tokyo.

The Vietnamese official expressed sincere thanks to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs for coordinating to organise visits and working sessions of high-level delegations of the two countries in recent times, and suggested the two sides continue to closely coordinate to ensure the success of visits by Vietnamese and Japanese high-ranking leaders in 2024.

She called on the Japanese side to continue providing official development assistance (ODA) for Việt Nam's development projects.

Deputy FM Hằng expressed her gratitude to the Government of Japan for creating favourable conditions for overseas Vietnamese (OVs) living, working, and studying in Japan, calling for further support for the Vietnamese community in the coming time, including simplifying visa application procedures.

She took the occasion to show her sympathies over the losses of lives and property that the Japanese government and people had to endure after the disastrous earthquake in the early days of 2024 in Ishikawa prefecture and surrounding areas of central Japan.

Hằng thanked Komura for attending the opening ceremony of the Ikebukuro Festival on April 6 to raise funds to support the victims, considering this a vivid testament to the sincere friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

For his part, Komura agreed to continue promoting cooperation between the two countries in various fields within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership, and enhancing people-to-people exchanges, saying that these are important foundations of the friendship between Việt Nam and Japan.

He affirmed that he will closely coordinate to successfully organise high-level visits of the two countries' leaders in 2024, and expressed delight at the ODA projects funded by Japan that are contributing to Việt Nam's socio-economic development, stating his personal commitment to continue to bring ODA projects to Việt Nam.

The two officials agreed to continue close coordination to address issues related to Vietnamese nationals' violation of Japanese laws, including enhancing education to ensure that the Vietnamese community in Japan strictly abides by local laws.

On the same day, Deputy FM Hằng chaired a seminar with Vietnamese experts and intellectuals in Japan.

As part of her working visit to Japan, Hằng also had a meeting with representatives of the Vietnamese Embassy in the country, during which she highly valued efforts by the agency in implementing OV affairs, saying that this has contributed to strengthening the national solidarity bloc and fostering the good friendship between the peoples and the strategic partnership between Việt Nam and Japan. — VNS