National Assembly (NA) Chairman Tran Thanh Man hosted a reception in Hanoi on March 11 for Takebe Tsutomu, Special Advisor of the Japan-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance.
Man expressed his pleasure at meeting Takebe, a close friend of the Vietnamese people, and recalled the positive impressions from his meeting with leaders of the Japan-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance during his working visit to Japan in December 2024.
The top legislator assessed that the Vietnam-Japan relationship has seen increasingly substantial and effective development step. After more than a year of upgrading the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the ties between the two countries have continued to grow in both quantity and quality across all fields. Political trust has continued to be strengthened; cooperation in investment, trade, labour, and tourism has been enhanced; and exchanges at high level and all levels have become closer.
For his part, Takebe said that his visit to Vietnam aims to attend the 10th Vietnam-Japan Cultural Festival. He expressed his delight at witnessing the inauguration of Metro Line 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, a project symbolising the good friendship between the two countries.
Takebe praised Vietnam's remarkable development in economic, cultural, and social fields, affirming that the relationship between the two countries is at its best in history.
The advisor discussed and proposed several specific measures to promote friendly and cooperative relations between Vietnam and Japan, including the development of Vietnam-Japan University. He hoped that the Vietnamese NA Chairman will continue to pay attention to and promote the development of the university project.
Agreeing with Takebe's positive assessments of Vietnam-Japan relations, Man stated that economic cooperation remained the pillar of the bilateral relations and is becoming increasingly close. Japan is Vietnam's number one partner in ODA and labour, third in investment, and fourth in trade and tourism. The bilateral trade turnover in 2024 reached 46.2 billion USD. Notably, the success of the recent 10th Vietnam-Japan Cultural Festival is a testament to the good relationship between the two countries.
He also appreciated and thanked Takebe for his dedicated contributions to promoting friendly and cooperative relations between Vietnam and Japan, especially in cultural exchanges, people-to-people exchanges, locality-to-locality cooperation, and in education and human resource training.
Man suggested that in the coming time, both sides continue to strengthen the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for more effective and substantive development. He also called for enhanced exchanges of high-level delegations and at all levels across all channels of the Party, State, and NA, particularly strengthening exchanges between the Japan-Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance and the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Parliamentarians' Group, as well as cooperation among young and female legislators.
Furthermore, the top lawmaker emphasised the need to vigorously promote cultural, tourism, and people-to-people cooperation between the two countries.
Regarding the Vietnam-Japan University project, the NA Chairman affirmed that this project holds symbolic significance in educational cooperation between the two countries and is of great interest to leaders of both nations. Recently, the Vietnamese government agreed in principle to announce the mid-term public investment capital plan for the 2026-2030 period for several important and urgent programmes and projects, including the Vietnam-Japan University project.
Highlighting the significance of the university project, Man stated that he will pay attention to and promote the effective implementation of this project./.
