Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai (R) and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio at their brief meeting in Tokyo on May 23. (Photo: VNA)

Tokyo - Vietnam consistently regards Japan as an important and long-term partner, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai told Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio at their brief meeting on May 23 as part of his working visit to Japan to attend the 29th Future of Asia Forum in Tokyo.

At the meeting, Khai expressed his wish that the two nations will further work together to effectively implement their recently established comprehensive strategic partnership as well as important agreements and common perceptions between the two PMs.

With appreciation of Vietnam's participation and contribution to the Tokyo conference, Kishida affirmed his commitment to further promote the substantive and effective development of the bilateral partnership across all fields in the time to come.

Khai took the occasion to convey Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s invitation for his Japanese counterpart to visit Vietnam at the earliest opportunity.

Earlier the same day, the Deputy PM received President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanaka Akihiko.

Khai proposed Japan consider providing new ODA loans to Vietnam with more favourable lending conditions and simplified procedures, possibly in the form of budget support, to help the Southeast Asian country carry out its large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects.

He also recommended the provision of ODA for projects in digital transformation, green transition and urban railway in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, as well as the continued implementation of those in high-quality human resources training and such new areas as green transition, among others.

Expressing satisfaction with the results of the sides’ ODA cooperation last year, which logged a total volume of 100 billion JPY (over 636 million USD), Tanaka affirmed that JICA wishes to further the joint work in quality infrastructure projects in line with Vietnam's needs and legal regulations.

He also pledged to continue with joint projects in human resources training, digital transformation, green transition, semiconductors, and innovation.