President Trần Đại Quang (l) meets with Chuichi Date, Speaker of the House of Councillors of the Japanese National Diet in Tokyo on Wednesday. – VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sáng

TOKYO – President Trần Đại Quang held a meeting with Chuichi Date, Speaker of the House of Councillors of the Japanese National Diet in Tokyo on Wednesday, during which the two sides said they were pleased with the strong growth of Việt Nam-Japan ties.

Speaking at the meeting, Chuichi Date expressed his pleasure at welcoming President Quang and the high-level Vietnamese delegation to Japan as the two countries celebrate the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties. He thanked President Quang, his spouse and the Vietnamese people for their warm reception for Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko when they visited Việt Nam in early 2017.

He also said he is pleased to see the strong, comprehensive and practical development of the Việt Nam-Japan extensive strategic partnership with a number of high-level visits and people-to-people exchanges in recent years.

President Quang, for his part, also expressed his delight at the robust and substantive growth in bilateral relations over the past 54 years, especially since the two countries upgraded their ties to an Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia in 2014.

Việt Nam always sees Japan as an important and long-term partner, he emphasised.

The Vietnamese State leader proposed the two nations step up co-operation between their legislative bodies with enhanced exchanges of information and experience in law making. He also asked his host to support the promotion of Japanese trade and investment activities in Việt Nam and the continued ODA provision for the Southeast Asian nation’s key projects, particularly in high-quality human resources training and climate change adaptation.

Furthermore, he wanted the two sides to continue strengthening co-operation in labour affairs, expanding people-to-people exchanges and creating conditions for their people to live, study and work in each country.

He moved on to ask the National Diet of Japan to strongly back ASEAN’s stance on the East Sea (South China Sea) issue and help Việt Nam improve its capacity of marine law enforcement.

Speaker Chuichi Date spoke highly of Việt Nam’s success in hosting the 26th Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF-26) and suggested the two sides further bolster ties at multilateral parliamentary forums and promote exchanges between their parliamentary agencies, particularly between young parliamentarians.

He affirmed Japan will continue partnering with and assisting Việt Nam in socio-economic development, contributing to taking the bilateral extensive strategic partnership to new heights for the benefit of the two countries’ people. — VNS