Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam, empowered by the State President, presented the Friendship Medal to Seiji Hagiwara, Governor of Mimasaka city in Japan’s Okayama prefecture, in recognition of his contributions to the growth of the Vietnam-Japan friendship.

Ambassador to Japan Vu Hong Nam (R) presents the Friendship Medal
to Seiji Hagiwara, Governor of Mimasaka city
 

Speaking at a ceremony in Tokyo on July 16, Nam hailed the Japanese official’s efforts for the development of ties between the two countries.

For his part, governor thanked Vietnamfor the honour, and said that in the 90s of the previous century when Vietnam was in difficult situation, the Vietnam-Japan relations had few opportunities to grow. At that time, he told himself to work for the expansion of the ties and then strived for the resumption of official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam.

He expressed his hope that on the basis of the current firm foundation, the Japan-Vietnam relationship will continue to thrive in the future.

Seiji Hagiwara was born in 1956 and worked at the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry from 1980 to 1998, during which he actively lobbied the Japanese Government to resume the provision of ODA to Vietnam.

Since becoming the Governor of Mimasaka from 2018, he has made great contributions for the growth of the ties between the city as well as Japan and Vietnam.