During a reception for visiting Japanese Minister of Finance Kato Katsunobu in Hanoi on January 8, the Government leader highlighted financial cooperation as a key pillar of bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Minister of Finance Kato Katsunobu at their meeting in Hanoi on January 8.

He commended Japan's effective financial support for large-scale infrastructure projects with significant ripple effect in Vietnam, such as Hanoi’s Nhat Tan Bridge and Terminal T2 at Noi Bai International Airport, and HCM City’s Metro Line 1, which began commercial operations in December 2024.

The PM said recent efforts to restructure the Nghi Son refinery and petrochemical project in Thanh Hoa province have yielded initial results.

He urged Kato to advocate the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC)’s greater involvement in restructuring this project in the spirit of harmonised interests and shared risks so that the project is truly a symbol of mutually beneficial cooperation.

With Vietnam aiming for GDP growth of at least 8% in 2025, the leader underscored the country’s pressing need for substantial capital to accelerate and efficiently execute development projects. He called for continued international cooperation, particularly from Japan.

PM Chinh suggested further bilateral cooperation in areas such as technology transfer, institutional perfection, human resources training, governance capacity improvement, investment and trade promotion, locality-to-locality collaboration, science - technology, innovation, digital transformation, and the exploration of underground, marine, and space resources.

It is also necessary for the sides to jointly strengthen educational partnerships and for Japan to continue creating favourable conditions for the Vietnamese community to live, study and work there, he said.

He also called for Japan’s assistance for Vietnam in the projects on infrastructure development, disaster risk mitigation, climate change response, and those under the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) and the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

The host added that Vietnam will prepare a list of specific projects for Japan to consider collaboration in while strongly facilitating the working group specialised in cooperation with Japan, thus helping develop the two countries' Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World in a substantive and effective manner.

For his part, Kato expressed admiration for Vietnam’s high economic growth and affirmed his willingness to beef up mutually beneficial cooperation in the areas of shared interest, especially the ones identified by his host.

He said Japan is reviewing policies to better support foreign nationals, and that Vietnamese people account for about one-quarter of the foreign expatriates’ population and have made significant contributions to the country.

The minister also proposed the two nations exert stronger efforts to jointly resolve obstacles, expedite existing projects, and initiate new ones.

On this occasion, PM Chinh extended his regards and an invitation to his Japanese counterpart Ishiba Shigeru to visit Vietnam in the near future.

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