National Assembly (NA) Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn receives Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam Ito Naoki in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ on Monday. — VNA/VNS Photo

CẦN THƠ — National Assembly (NA) Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn received Japanese Ambassador to Việt Nam Ito Naoki in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ on Monday.

During the reception, Mẫn thanked the ambassador for helping to successfully organise his visit to Japan from December 3 to 7 last year. On this occasion, he asked Ito to convey his regards and wishes to the Emperor, Empress, and Prime Minister of Japan, as well as the President of the House of Councillors and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Congratulating the ambassador on his highly productive discussion with Secretary of the Cần Thơ municipal Party Committee Đỗ Thanh Bình, Mẫn expressed his belief that with the ambassador's prestige, Japanese businesses and investors will come to invest in the Mekong Delta, particularly Cần Thơ.

Ito informed his host that over the past two days, he and a working delegation that included representatives from the Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and several corporations conducted a field trip to Cần Thơ, meeting with city leaders and visiting the Cần Thơ University.

Through these meetings, the Japanese Ambassador found that the city has significant development potential in areas such as economy, tourism, infrastructure construction, and education.

Mẫn and Ito were pleased to observe that since elevating their relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, Việt Nam and Japan have continued to develop their relations substantively and comprehensively across all fields. Political trust has been strengthened while high- and all-level visits and meetings further promoted.

Japan is currently the No. 1 partner in official development assistance (ODA) and the fourth-largest trading partner of Việt Nam, with bilateral trade in 2024 exceeding US$46 billion, accounting for 6 per cent of Việt Nam's total foreign trade turnover. Additionally, Japan is the fourth-largest export market and the third-largest import market for Việt Nam. Both countries are also actively expanding cooperation to new areas such as green transition and digital transformation.

Mẫn said that Vietnamese leaders wish to collaborate closely with Japan to deepen bilateral ties within the framework of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, thus fostering increasingly broad and substantive cooperation that contributes to the development of each country in the new phase.

The top legislator called on Ito to help promote cooperation between the two parliaments to enhance the countries' interwoven economic interests and collaboration in economic security, investment, trade, and ODA.

He also asked Japan to continue supporting Việt Nam in building and implementing the industrialisation and modernisation strategy within the framework of bilateral cooperation for the 2023–2030 period, provide new-generation ODA loans with a focus on several major infrastructure projects, and further promote Japanese investment in Việt Nam, particularly in high-quality projects with spillover effects and technology transfer.

Ito said that as 2026 marks the 80th founding anniversary of the Cần Thơ University, Japan plans to organise an international seminar on climate change response in the city.

The ambassador also expressed his hope that Mẫn will support efforts to improve laws and policies and reform administrative procedures to create better conditions for Japanese businesses to invest in Việt Nam.

In response, Mẫn affirmed that the Vietnamese NA has been boosting institutional perfection to remove obstacles in the legal system and step up administrative reform to faciliate activities of people and businesses.

On this occasion, Ito conveyed New Year greetings from Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan to Mẫn. — VNS