Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich received Katsuyuki Kawai, special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in Hanoi on July 17.

Defence Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich (R) receives Katsuyuki Kawai, special adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe

At the meeting, Lich expressed his delight at the robust growth of the Vietnam-Japan partnership, expecting the two countries’ cooperation to continue expanding in all fields.

For his part, Katsuyuki Kawai vowed to contribute more to boosting the bilateral engagements for peace and stability in the region and the world.

Vietnam and Japan established diplomatic ties in 1973. 

Japan is currently the biggest supplier of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam, which is estimated at about 200 billion JPY (1.8 billion USD) annually, making up about 30 percent of total ODA committed to the Southeast Asian country.

It is also the fourth biggest trade partner of Vietnam after the US, the EU and China. Two-way trade increased to 30 billion USD in 2016 from 16.7 billion USD in 2010.

VNA