Japan’s closer ties with Vietnam
Cultural similarities and a respect for each other are the foundations for the two countries increased ties in recent years, he said.
The process of transforming their growing relations into strategic cooperative ties is inevitable to Japan and Vietnam, said Yasuaki Tanizaki, Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam.
Tanizaki told Vietnam News Agency of plans to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties in 2013.
The diplomat was assigned by the Japanese Government to lead the Organizing Board of the 2013 Japan-Vietnam Friendship Year.
He said the events proposed for the friendship year, which include friendly football matches, fashion shows and food festivals, will target young people, given that they are essential to preserving and promoting the two countries’ growing ties.
The events will illustrate Japanese people’s gratitude to Vietnamese people’s support and sympathy after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Tanizaki said.
He reviewed the two countries’ cooperation in the last four decades, highlighting two-way trade of over US$21 billion in 2011 and US$11.7 billion in the first half of 2012.
Japan is the largest foreign investor in Vietnam with registered capital investment of over US$27 billion, including US$4 billion from the first half of 2012. Japan is expected to further invest in Vietnam in the future.
Japan has been Vietnam ’s largest ODA provider for years, pledging to support Vietnam’s industrialisation and modernisation leading up to 2020. In the 2011 fiscal year, it made a record ODA pledge of over US$2.5 billion.
Japan’s ODA has been used to build infrastructure, develop human resources, restructure State-owned enterprises, deal with natural disaster and climate change, and assist social programmes.