President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc had a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese State President Nguyễn Xuân Phúc had a phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide on Tuesday from the Presidential Palace in Hà Nội.

On behalf of the Japanese Government and people, PM Suga congratulated Phúc for having been elected as President of Việt Nam, and expressed gratitude for the cordial welcome that Phúc, while in his position as Vietnamese Prime Minister, had extended to the Japanese leader during the latter’s official visit to Việt Nam in October last year.

Suga stressed Japan put relations with Việt Nam in high regard and would continue to promote close and active cooperation to support Việt Nam’s development in the future.

In this spirit, the Japanese Government has decided to provide a JPY200 million vaccine cold chain storage, a marine research ship to Việt Nam, and would open the Japanese consulate in Đà Nẵng City in 2022.

President Phúc reiterated his appreciation as to the fact that PM Suga has picked Việt Nam as the destination for his first overseas trip after taking office in October 2020, expressing his delight at the strong and comprehensive development of the bilateral relations with high level of political confidence, affirming that in implementing the foreign policy as stated in the documents adopted in the 13th National Party Congress, Việt Nam always considers Japan a priority, long-term strategic partner.

On this occasion, President Phúc invited the Emperor and Empress of Japan to visit Việt Nam.

President Phúc highly appreciated Japan's effective and practical cooperation in the support of socio-economic development of Việt Nam, including Japanese aid to provide storage equipment for vaccines.

He also asked Japan to cooperate further with Việt Nam and provide support with regards to COVID-19 vaccines to serve the vaccination campaign of the Vietnamese people along with support for the Vietnamese community in Japan.

The Japanese leader affirmed that Japan will support and collaborate with Việt Nam to ensure the necessary amount of vaccines and continue to support Vietnamese trainees in Japan, who serve as ‘the bridge’ of cooperation for the relationship between the two countries.

The two sides agreed to continue to strengthen exchanges and contacts at all levels – especially at high levels, improve the efficiency of cooperation mechanisms, and closely coordinate and strengthen cooperation in COVID-19 prevention and control, accelerate cooperation in the implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), bolster the connection between the two economies in terms of investment and trade, and expand cooperation in agriculture and labour, localities-level cooperation.

The two sides should also closely coordinate to prepare for the activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2023.

Both leaders agreed that while Việt Nam is a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-21 term and the coordinating country for ASEAN-Japan relations in 2018-21, the two countries need to continue cooperation in multilateral forums, especially at the United Nations and ASEAN, and promote cooperation within the Mekong-Japan framework.

The two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the South China Sea (known in Việt Nam as the East Sea) issue. — VNS