Acting Secretary General of the LiberalDemocratic Party (LDP) of Japan Motoo Hayashi made the statement at a meetingwith Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong in HCMCity on January 26.
He is in Vietnam to attend the fifthVietnam-Japan friendship festival, scheduled to kick off in HCM City on January26 evening with a number of special art and culture performances and workshopson trade promotion and sport exchanges.
The festival is the first in a string of eventsin celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties in2018, he said, adding that its success will help reinforce the bilateralfriendship and cooperation.
The Japan-Vietnam Friendship ParliamentariansUnion will organise numerous cooperation programmes with Vietnamese NationalAssembly deputies to promote the sound collaboration and amity between the twocountries, he noted.
For his part, Phong said Vietnam, particularlyHCM City, is keen to step up collaboration with Japan within the framework ofthe bilateral extensive strategic partnership, for the sake of their people aswell as for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region.
He expressed his belief that HCM City will continueto be a reliable and attractive investment destination for Japanese businessesin the coming time.
He proposed the LDP leaders launch moreinitiatives to strengthen the relations between Vietnam and Japan in generaland Japan and HCM City in particular, especially in the fields of climatechange adaptation, urban infrastructure building and people-to-peopleexchange.-VNA