President Tran Dai Quang and Japanese Prime Minister ShinzoAbe have agreed that the two countries’ relationship has grown robustly acrossthe board and it should be further expanded.

They made the remarks at their talks on the sidelines of the 24th Asia PacificEconomic Cooperation (APEC) in Lima, Peru’s capital city, on November 20. 

The leaders expressed their pleasure that the formation of the extensivestrategic partnership in 2014 allowed the relationship to well serve practicalinterests of the countries’ peoples as well as peace, stability, cooperationand development in the region. 

They also noted increasing people-to-people exchanges. 

President Quang affirmed Vietnam always considers Japan as the leading and long-termpartner and wished to further deepen the extensive strategic partnership withJapan. 

On behalf of the Party and State, President Quang transferred the invitation tothe Emperor and Empress of Japan to visit Vietnam at the beginning of 2017. 

Hesaid the trip is a symbol and makes a new landmark in the friendship andcooperation between the two countries and Vietnam will closely work with Japanto make meticulous preparations to ensure the success of the trip. 

Herecommended Japan to further boost cooperation in the fields of its strengths,such as infrastructure, agriculture, support industry, climate change response,handling environmental incidents, which Vietnam has demand. 

Expressinghis joy to meet President Tran Dai Quang for the first time, PM Shinzo Abeaffirmed Japan wants to boost multifaceted cooperation with Vietnam, especiallyin high-quality infrastructure. 

PMShinzo Abe announced Japan’s decision to provide Vietnam with some fire-fightingand rescue vehicles and continue supporting Vietnam’s law enforcement forces atsea. 

Appreciatingthe close coordination between the two countries at multilateral forums, PMShinzo Abe affirmed that Japan supports and actively assists Vietnam insuccessfully organising the APEC Year 2017. 

Onthe occasion, the two leaders exchanged their views on international andregional issues, including the East Sea issue. 

Theyshared their viewpoints on resolving disputes via peaceful measures based on internationallaw, including the 1982 UnitedNations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), contributing to maintaining peace and stability in theregion and in the world.-VNA