Vietnam – Japan Deepening Strong Relations

According to General Secretary Trong, the visit took place as Vietnam - Japan bilateral relations are developing very fruitfully. With this visit, Vietnam wants to assert its consistent stance that Japan is one of most important and long-term partners of Vietnam, and deepen bilateral ties for the sake of peace and prosperity in Asia. With three focuses of connecting two economies, enhancing political trust and boosting regional and international cooperation, the visit has created a powerful driving force to push Vietnam - Japan relations to new highs.

 

Vietnam and Japan have long-standing, close ties; the two countries share a wealth of common cultural values and sincere friendship; and the two countries have many tremendous short-term and long-term common interests. Now, the two countries are not only broad strategic partners, but also friends of sincere, mutual understanding and respect.

 

Since establishing diplomatic relations in 1973, especially after the end of the Cold War, Vietnam and Japan have overcome obstacles of the past to make important and substantive progress. By establishing "Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia" in 2009 and upgrading it to "Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia" in 2014, the bilateral ties have been rapidly and effectively developed in all aspects. The mutual trust has been strengthened and reinforced, especially by shuttle visits and contacts of high-ranking officials of the two countries. Economic cooperation keeps expanding strongly, especially in official development assistance (ODA), foreign direct investment (FDI), trade and tourism. People-to-people exchanges and cultural exchanges are vibrant, thus deepening the profound understanding between the two peoples. These achievements result from mutual trust and understanding, enhanced common interests, and improved cooperation efficiency.

 

To uphold that development momentum, Vietnam wants to make the two-way ties with Japan deeper, more comprehensive and more effective in all fields, especially in economic field. Japan is a developed industrialised nation with advantages in capital, technology and management experience. Meanwhile, Vietnam is on the path of industrialisation and modernisation with rich resources, an abundant workforce and a potential market.

 

On economic and trade cooperation, Japan is a leading economic partner of Vietnam and was the first G7 country to recognise the market economy status of Vietnam. At present, Japan is the largest ODA donor to Vietnam, the second largest foreign investor and one of the largest trade partners of Vietnam. Japan defines that the economic cooperation is the central point of bilateral relations. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe chose Vietnam for his first foreign state visit after taking office in January 2013.

The number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam has been steadily rising in recent years. In 2014, Japanese tourist arrivals to Vietnam reached 647,956, behind only China and South Korea. Meanwhile, 120,000 Vietnamese tourists visited Japan.

 

In 2014, Japan was the fourth largest trade partner of Vietnam with a two-way trade turnover of US$27.612 billion, of which Vietnam took US$14.704 billion and Japan earned US$12.908 billion. The bilateral trade revenue in the first six months of 2015 reached US$13.9 billion, of which Vietnam bagged US$6.67 billion and Japan took US$7.25 billion.

 

On investment, Japanese investors registered to invest US$2.050 billion in Vietnam in 2014, accounting for 10.1 percent of total FDI investment in the Southeast Asian nation, ranking fourth after South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. Japanese investors spent US$1.2 billion on 289 new projects and 138 existing projects added the rest. In the first three months of 2015, Japan secured second place, after South Korea, with US$3.7 billion and 2,584 projects.

 

During Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's Japan visit in July 2015, the Prime Ministers of the two nations agreed to basically conclude bilateral negotiations in the framework of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, and Japan committed to granting US$3 billion of ODA loans in the fiscal year 2015. Japan pledged to consider nine projects in the fields of infrastructure construction, energy, human resources training, and response to climate change.

 

Currently, Japan is the top ODA donor and FDI investor in Vietnam. Since 1992, Japan has handed over 2,500 billion yen to Vietnam, of which the transport field received 43 percent, followed by environment and health with 15 percent, mining with 3 percent, and agriculture, forestry and fishery with 2 percent. Major Japanese ODA-funded projects are Can Tho Bridge, Bai Chay Bridge, Nhat Tan Bridge, Hanoi Ring Road 3, and T2 Terminal at Noi Bai International Airport.

 

According to statistics of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan's ODA provision for Vietnam was 165.6 billion yen in fiscal year 2013 and 82.628 billion yen in fiscal year 2014. Among countries with JICA ODA funding, Vietnam ranks top by both projects and value. At present, JICA is carrying out over 150 ODA projects in Vietnam, including technical assistance and loans, for building infrastructure, improving social life, increasing international competitiveness, and increasing investment efficiency.

 

Vietnam always attaches great importance to economic cooperation with Japan. The two sides have agreed on many significant cooperation projects and programmes, including the Vietnam Industrialisation Strategy in the framework of Vietnam - Japan cooperation until 2020, with a vision to 2030. The strategy places priority on such sectors as electronics, agricultural machine, agro-fishery processing, shipbuilding, environment, energy conservation, automobile and parts manufacturing. Japan is also actively supporting Vietnam in technology and experience in the process of agricultural and rural industrialisation and modernisation.

 

Based on fine traditional relationship, with the determination and effort of both sides, the extensive Vietnam - Japan strategic partnership will certainly continue to advance in the coming time for benefit of the two peoples.