Hanoi (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister and ForeignMinister Pham Binh Minh presented the Friendship Order to Japanese outgoing ambassadorUmeda Kunio during a ceremony in Hanoi on March 25.

At a reception earlier, Minh lauded the diplomat’s activecontributions to the strengthening of the Vietnam – Japan extensive strategicpartnership.

He stressed that during the ambassador’s tenure in Vietnam,the bilateral ties have been developed substantially in various areas, withregular high-level visits which helped strengthen bilateral political trust.

On economic cooperation, Japan remained among the topinvestors, trade and tourism partners of Vietnam, Minh highlighted, thankingand hailing Japan for its continued supply of official development assistanceto Vietnam, thus making active and effective contributions to the country’ssocio-economic development.

For his part, the Japanese envoy thanked Minh and theForeign Ministry for helping him fulfill assigned tasks.

According to him, Vietnam has become a top important and trustworthypartner of Japan in the fields of politics, security, economy and humanresources training.

He heralded drastic measures undertaken by the VietnameseGovernment in response to the COVID-19 epidemic.

The diplomat also pledged to continue contributing tobilateral ties in any position upon returning home./.