Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a reception for Toshihiro Nikai, Secretary General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan and Chairman of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance (JVPA), in Wakayama prefecture’s Kinokawa city on June 30.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (L) and Toshihiro Nikai, Secretary General of
the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan and Chairman of the Japan-Vietnam
Friendship Parliamentary Alliance (JVPA).

During the reception, PM Phuc laid stress on the strong development of the extensive strategic partnership between the two countries, to which Nikai and the JVPA have made significant contribution.

He took the occasion to laud the LDP leader’s initiative to organize a lotus exchange event in Wakayama prefecture, thus making lotus a symbol connecting the friendship and cultures of Vietnam and Japan.

The PM affirmed that the Vietnamese Government backs and creates favourable conditions to promote the Vietnam-Japan cooperation at local level, including collaboration between Wakayama prefecture and Vietnamese localities in agriculture.

PM Phuc hoped Toshihiro Nikai, a Lower House member representing Wakayama prefecture, and leaders of Wakayama prefecture will support cooperation with Vietnam, maintain delegation exchanges, and enhance trade and investment promotion activities with the Southeast Asian country.

He also wished that the Japanese sides will pay more attention to partnerships in the training of high-quality human resources in Vietnam.

Nikai, for his part, spoke highly of PM Phuc and the Vietnamese delegation’s attendance at the G20, expressing his hope for good outcomes of the talks between PM Phuc and PM Shinzo Abe, thus helping elevate and develop the bilateral relations in a more practical and effective manner.

He said besides state and parliamentary diplomacy, people-to-people diplomacy, cultural exchanges, and cooperative programmes between localities are crucial to promote the bilateral ties.

He suggested holding exchanges of “young ambassadors” to educate young generations of the two counties on the traditional friendship between the two peoples.

On behalf of the local people, Governor of Wakayama prefecture Yoshinobu Nisaka welcomed PM Phuc and the Vietnamese delegation visiting the locality and attending the Japan-Vietnam Lotus Festival.

He said that Wakayama has signed several cooperation deals with Vietnamese localities, ministries and sectors, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the fields on agricultural production.