During the reception, Deputy PM highlighted the thriving Vietnam – Japan and strengthened bilateral political trust, noting that Japan is Vietnam’s largest ODA provider, second investor and fourth trade partner.

The Vietnamese community in Japan has exceeded 370,000 people and become the third largest foreign community in the East Asian nation, thus giving a boost to the ties and cooperation between Kanagawa and Vietnam’s localities, he said.

The Japanese guest, in turn, told his host that over the recent years, the cooperation between Vietnamese localities and the Japanese prefecture has been continuing to grow It is worth noting that the organization of the annual Vietnam Festival in Kanagawa since 2015 and the Kanagawa Festival in Hanoi since last year draw hundreds of thousands of participants each year.

Deputy PM Dam voiced his hope that in the time ahead, Kanagawa administration officials will take heed to and encourage local enterprises to intensify investment into Vietnam in the field of their strength like engineering, trade, services, agro-forestry-fishery products.

He said he hopes that the prefecture will increase the reception of Vietnamese labour, as well as facilitate the Vietnamese community’s life.