HANOI, Vietnam (Reuters) – Japan and Vietnam agreed to strengthen their economic and security ties on Sunday, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said during a trip to Southeast Asia. He also called for an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
“We’re going to expand bilateral connections in order to get both countries’ economies back on track with the coronavirus,” Kishida told reporters in Hanoi during a meeting with his colleague, Pham Minh Chinh.
In Chinh’s words, the two “decided to work together more in post-pandemic commerce, supply chain strengthening, and the energy transition, which was in line with their common interests.”
Japan is the biggest donor of official development assistance to Vietnam and the third-largest source of foreign direct investment in the country. According to Vietnam’s customs figures, bilateral commerce increased 8.4 percent last year to $42.9 billion.
Kishida and Chinh said that they discussed regional reactions to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the South China Sea issues, which include China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.
“We agreed that any attempt to alter the status quo by force would be rejected,” Kishida added, alluding to the Ukraine situation. “We agreed on the urgent necessity to terminate the conflict.”
They also agreed to fight against any move to change the South China Sea’s status quo by force, Kishida said.
On Friday, Kishida conducted a similar meeting with Indonesia.
Chinh announced Vietnam’s gift of $500,000 to Ukraine through international organisations for humanitarian assistance.
He said that Vietnam would begin exporting longans to Japan in September, followed by other fruits and vegetables such as grapefruit, avocado, and rambutan, while also expanding its market for Japanese grapes.
Kishida said that Japan would help Vietnam move toward carbon-free energy sources like biomass, hydrogen, and ammonia.
