Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) and Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan Nikai Toshihiro at the cutural exchange.

The delegation of Japan to the event is thebiggest ever of its kind with more than 1,000 members who are parliamentarians,senior officials, representatives of localities, and businesses.

Addressing the exchange, PM Phuc described theevent as a vivid demonstration of the strong and comprehensive development of the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership.

He spoke highly of the significant contributionsof the two countries’ parliamentary friendship groups and particularly LDP SecretaryGeneral Nikai, to promoting the bilateral friendship and cooperation.

Vietnam and Japan share a lot of commoninterests and the two economies are supplementary rather than competitive, hesaid, noting that Japan is now the biggest provider of official developmentassistance (ODA), the second largest investor, the third biggest tourismpartner, and the fourth biggest trade partner of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese community in Japan has become thethird largest foreign community in Japan with nearly 400,000 people. In 2019,more than 900,000 Japanese tourists came to Vietnam with Hoi An ancient city incentral Quang Nam province being one of the most popular places. Also in theyear, over 400,000 Vietnamese visited Japan.

The PM said Vietnam wants to strengthen economicconnectivity with Japan through the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which will help businesses of the two sidesto cooperate in investment and transfer of technology as well as develop themarket and join the global value chain.

The Southeast Asian country also wants to strengthenconnections with the Japanese government, parliament, ministries, localities,and people via specific cooperation projects such as the Vietnam-JapanUniversity, he added.

Stronger cooperation and connectivity will helpVietnam and Japan have more power to bring the bilateral extensive strategicpartnership to a new height for the interests of the two peoples as well as forpeace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and beyond, the PMsaid.

For his part, Nikai Toshihiro, who is alsoChairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, said Vietnamand Japan boast long-standing relations, to which PM Phuc had made an importantcontribution.

He expressed his pleasure at the two countries’growing ties in all fields. In 2019, more than 1,400,000 people attended exchangeactivities between the two countries. More than 370,000 Vietnamese people areliving and studying in Japan, serving as an important bridge to promote the tworelations’ relations, he said.

At the cultural exchange night, the two sidesannounced the establishment of the Japanese Embassy’s office in Da Nang city./.VNA