Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that Prime Minister Ishiba's visit created new momentum and inspiration to promote the Vietnam-Japan cooperative relationship to become deeper, more substantial and more effective.

On the morning of April 28, at the Government Headquarters, right after the successful talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru held a joint press conference to announce the results of the talks.

In the presence of high-ranking delegates and reporters from both countries and international press, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that he and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru had just had a very successful meeting.

Vietnam welcomes the Japanese Prime Minister and his wife to visit Vietnam; appreciates the sentiments of Japan in general and the Japanese Prime Minister and his wife in particular towards Vietnam, in the spirit of sincerity, trust, practicality, efficiency and mutual benefit.

Noting that the two sides have much to do, stories to tell, achievements to be proud of and many issues to share, sympathize with and help each other, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed that the visit of Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and his wife to Vietnam is an important milestone in the relationship between the two countries; creating new momentum and inspiration to promote the Vietnam-Japan cooperation relationship to become deeper, more substantial and more effective.

These include promoting the visit of the Japanese Emperor and Empress to Vietnam and General Secretary To Lam to Japan; resolving difficulties and obstacles in cooperation projects between the two sides; and agreeing on major orientations in Vietnam-Japan relations in the coming time.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that at the talks, he and the Japanese Prime Minister agreed on major orientations to elevate the Vietnam-Japan Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a new height; enter a new era; identify new pillars of the bilateral relationship, especially cooperation in science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, training of high-quality human resources, agriculture, labor, local cooperation, people-to-people exchange, tourism, etc.

According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the two sides agreed to strongly strengthen political trust and improve the effectiveness of dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in all fields; promote exchanges and contacts on all Party, State and National Assembly channels in many flexible forms; promote the institutionalization of meetings between the two Prime Ministers; agree to upgrade the Strategic Partnership Dialogue mechanism at the Deputy Foreign Minister level to the 2+2 Dialogue at the Deputy Foreign Minister-Defense Minister level and organize the first meeting in 2025.

The two sides also agreed to continue to deepen economic, investment and trade cooperation through exchanges, promote new-generation ODA cooperation for strategic infrastructure projects; speed up and set specific progress for many projects that are symbolic of the bilateral relationship.

The Prime Minister said that in the context of the current international economic situation, multilateralism needs to be promoted and international cooperation called for. The two sides agreed to strengthen economic ties, support each other, and create favorable conditions for each other to develop together.

The Japanese Prime Minister affirmed that he will continue to support Vietnam in achieving its goals of industrialization, modernization, and building an independent and self-reliant economy; and will continue to consider expanding the market for Vietnam's strong products.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh shared Vietnam's determination for high growth, economic cooperation, sustainable development and drastic measures to improve the investment environment to create favorable conditions for investors, including Japan.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in digital transformation, semiconductors, quantum, nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, in-depth research on the Internet of Things, cloud computing, etc.; and organize the 5th meeting of the Joint Committee on Science and Technology in Japan in 2026.

The two sides also discussed the possibility of studying the establishment of a new cooperation mechanism on science and technology in the direction of public-private partnership.

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru affirmed that he will support joint research projects and train 250 Vietnamese PhDs in semiconductors through the Japan-ASEAN Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Project (NEXUS).

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh asked the Japanese Prime Minister to pay attention to and support the community of 70 Vietnamese enterprises and 5,000 IT engineers operating in Japan to actively participate in Japan's IT supply chain and digital transformation process.

The two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in green transformation. Vietnam welcomed Japan's support for 15 energy transition and net zero emission reduction projects worth over 20 billion USD within the framework of the "Asian Net Zero Emission Community" (AZEC) proposed by Japan.

The two sides also agreed to exploit more effectively the potential in the fields of high-tech agriculture associated with ensuring the food supply chain, ensuring food security for each other; connecting human resources, local cooperation, cultural exchange, people-to-people exchange, and tourism.

The two sides agreed to actively coordinate towards organizing the Vietnam-Japan Local Forum in Vietnam by the end of 2025.

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru highly appreciated the important contributions of the community of more than 600,000 Vietnamese people in Japan. The two sides agreed to start negotiations on the Vietnam-Japan Social Insurance Agreement in 2025 and promote the development of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation on the new labor program "employment for skills development."

The Japanese Prime Minister positively acknowledged the proposal to simplify procedures and expand the scope of visas to enter Japan for Vietnamese citizens, aiming to achieve the goal of 2 million tourists visiting each other each year.

The two sides affirmed the importance of maintaining the international order and the free, open and rules-based trade system, on the basis of respect for the fundamental principles of international law and the United Nations Charter.

The two sides closely and effectively coordinated on international and regional issues of mutual concern to maintain peace, stability, cooperation and development; affirmed the importance of maintaining peace, stability and resolving disputes in the East Sea by peaceful means, on the basis of international law, the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, fully implementing the DOC and soon completing an effective and efficient COC on the basis of harmonizing the interests of the parties concerned.

Japan agreed to support Vietnam in successfully organizing APEC Year 2027. Vietnam will send a delegation to attend Vietnam Day activities at the Osaka Kansai International Exhibition 2025.

For his part, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru sincerely thanked the Vietnamese leaders, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his wife, as well as the Vietnamese people for the warm and respectful reception for the delegation; saying that this was the first visit of a Japanese Prime Minister to Vietnam after the two countries upgraded their relations to "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia and the World" in November 2023 in the context of Vietnam entering a new era.

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru affirmed that with Vietnam's position and role in the region and the world, Vietnam's remarkable development in recent times, as well as future development orientations, Japan prioritizes and values ​​cooperation with Vietnam, for the development of each country and for peace, cooperation and development in the region.

On that basis, after the meeting between General Secretary To Lam and the Japanese Prime Minister, the two Prime Ministers had a very successful meeting. The two sides agreed to promote upgrading cooperation in the fields of politics, diplomacy, economics, defense, security, education and training, people-to-people exchange, etc.

In the context of the world facing unpredictable changes, difficulties and challenges that affect Southeast Asia in general and Vietnam in particular, Japan welcomes Vietnam to enter a new era of wealth, civilization and prosperity; and supports Vietnam in developing semiconductor technology and green transformation.

In particular, Japan supports businesses investing in Vietnam and supports Vietnam in training semiconductor human resources; supports and accepts graduate students in the semiconductor field. Japan spends about 20 billion USD to support Vietnam in energy transition through the Asian Zero Emission Community (AZEC) mechanism.

Wishing Vietnam to continue improving its investment and business environment, listening to the voices of businesses, and creating conditions for Japanese businesses to invest and do business effectively in Vietnam, the Japanese Prime Minister said that Japan supports and shares with Vietnam to develop infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure, with subway construction projects; prevent and combat natural disasters; narrow the development gap between regions, etc.

According to the Japanese Prime Minister, the two sides also shared regional and international situations of mutual concern; agreed to resolve disagreements on the basis of respect for international law; affirmed that Japan will accompany Mekong countries, including Vietnam, in the new era of development.

Previously, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru witnessed the handover ceremony of four Vietnam-Japan cooperation documents, including a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in research and development in the semiconductor field; a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in human resource development in the semiconductor field; a Framework Agreement on teaching Japanese in Vietnamese high schools; and a Memorandum of Understanding on promoting bilateral cooperation projects in the field of energy transition./.