Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Trinh DinhDung received Governor of Japan’s Niigata prefecture Hideyo Hanazumi in Hanoion October 18, noting that Vietnam attaches importance to locality-to-localitycooperation between the two countries.

Deputy PM Dung welcomed Hanazumi’s visit, whichcoincides with the 45th founding anniversary of Vietnam-Japan diplomatic ties.He said that bilateral friendship and cooperation are developing strongly andpractically across all spheres, with increasing exchanges and political trustbetween the countries’ leaders.

Japan is currently a leading economic partner ofVietnam, ranking first among official development assistance (ODA) providers,second among foreign investors, third among sources of foreign tourists, andfourth among trade partners of the Southeast Asian nation, he said.

The Deputy PM said in the first eight months of2018, bilateral trade reached 24.5 billion USD. Japan’s accumulative ODA anddirect investment in Vietnam has now reached a total of 30.5 billion USD and50.5 billion USD, respectively.

Cooperation and exchanges between the countries’localities and people have been growing, helping to deepen mutual understandingand friendship between the Vietnamese and Japanese people, Deputy PM Dungadded.

[Infographics: Vietnam - Japan relations record big development across fields]

He affirmed that Vietnam considerslocality-to-locality cooperation a practical and effective collaboration channelto step up economic, trade, and labour partnerships, as well as to promotepeople-to-people exchanges.

The Deputy PM asked Governor Hanazumi toencourage Niigata enterprises to invest more in Vietnam in the fields they holdstrengths in, such as manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and hightechnology.

The Vietnamese Government is ready to create thebest possible conditions for businesses of Niigata, as well as other Japaneselocalities, to successfully make investment and do business in Vietnam, hestressed.

Niigata and other Japanese localities shouldfoster ties in human resources training and education, including receiving moreVietnamese apprentices, Deputy PM Dung said, adding that cooperation intourism, culture, and people-to-people and locality-to-locality exchanges alsoneed to be reinforced.

For his part, Governor Hanazumi said hisdelegation includes representatives of many businesses, universities, andhealthcare establishments, all of whom are willing to expand ties with Vietnam.

He shared the Deputy PM’s view that the twocountries’ extensive strategic partnership is developing in all aspects and atall levels, including between localities. He affirmed that Niigata prefecturewants to set up closer relations with Vietnamese localities, especially in thefields of economy-trade-investment, healthcare, education, tourism, andaviation.

The official hoped that Niigata businessesinvesting in Vietnam will become a bridge, linking the prefecture with their Vietnamesecounterparts and promoting partnership between their businesses, especiallysmall- and medium-sized enterprises, to tap into each other’s advantages.–VNA