Viet Nam, Japan vow to strengthen ODA cooperation

Tran made that above statement during his meeting with President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanaka Akihiko in Tokyo on May 24 as part of his working visit to Japan. 

The Deputy Prime Minister spoke highly of crucial contributions of Japan's ODA to Viet Nam's socio-economic development and poverty reduction over the last 30 years. 

He proposed JICA would continue providing new-generation ODA for Viet Nam in sectors that were outlined at the high-level talks between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Japanese counterpart Kishida Fumio such as the North-South express railway, urban railways in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City and projects in fields of renewable energy, green transition and high-quality agricultural products. 

For his part, Tanaka Akihiko affirmed to enhance close coordination with Viet Nam to strengthen ODA cooperation across all sectors, adding that Japan stands ready to take part in Viet Nam's key projects. 

He suggested both sides establish all-level periodic consultation frameworks to ensure the effectiveness in ODA cooperation.  

The same day, at a meeting with former Japanese PM Suga Yoshihide, Tran expressed his delight on the strong development in Viet Nam-Japan Extensive Strategic Partnership. 

He expected that the former Japanese Prime Minister continue to advocate the upgrading of the bilateral relations to a new height, promote delegation exchanges at all levels in 2023 and support nearly 500,000 Vietnamese living, studying and working in Japan. 

Suga Yoshihide, for his part, noted that Japan considers Viet Nam a crucial partner in its foreign strategy in the region, voicing his support for lifting the bilateral ties to a new height. 

He called on the two nations to foster collaboration in fields of economics, trade and digital transformation.  

During his meeting with Chairman of the Japan-Viet Nam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance Nikai Toshihiro, the Deputy Prime Minister hailed the alliance's meaningful and active contribution to the countries' economic, cultural, tourism, and locality-to-locality exchanges.

He suggested Nikai Toshihiro continue backing exchange activities between the two nations, urging the Japanese Government to soon launch the new-generation ODA program as well as boosting coordination in tourism, local-to-local linkages, culture, sports and people-to-people exchanges. 

Nikai Toshihiro pledged to help speed up the procedure of opening the Japanese market for Viet Nam's green-skinned pomelo, suggesting Viet Nam consider to open the market for Japanese grapes to enter its market./.