Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Japanese counterpart Ishiba Shigeru held summit meeting in Hanoi on April 28 to discuss bilateral relations and international issues of mutual concern, according to a report from the Government News.

 During the talks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh expressed thanks to Japan for its active assistance for Vietnam to overcome the devastating consequences of Yagi typhoon last year and during the COVID-19 pandemic time.

Vietnam regards Japan as a trustworthy partner of top important, affirmed the Vietnamese PM, saying both countries enjoy vast cooperation potential on the basis of high political trust, long-standing people-to-people exchanges and complementary economies.

PM Chinh took the occasion to share that Vietnam is promoting science and technology development, streamlining the political system apparatus, advancing the development of private economy, and building an independent and self-reliant economy in association with extensive, substantive and effective international integration.

PM Ishiba, for his part, spoke highly of Vietnam's position and role in the region and the world, reassuring that Japan will continue support for Vietnam to build an independent and self-reliant economy, promote modernization and industrialization, and development science and technology in the new era – the era of the Vietnamese nation's rise.

In a sincere, friendly and trustful atmosphere, the two leaders expressed their pleasure at the comprehensive advancement of the Vietnam-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership established in 2023.

The two PMs agreed on major orientations and measures to further elevate the bilateral ties to new heights in five domains: economy, human resource connectivity, defense and security, science and technology, green transition, and multilateral collaboration in a sincere, practical, effective and mutually beneficial fashion.

They  agreed to continue strengthening political trust through annual exchange of high-level contacts and visits, improving the role of cooperation and dialogue mechanisms.

The two PMs  agreed to foster defense and security cooperation including military technology, settlement of war consequences, search and rescue, cyber security, UN-led peacekeeping operations.

Both sides also agreed to upgrade the dialogue mechanism at deputy foreign ministerial level to dialogue 2 plus 2 (at deputy foreign ministerial and deputy defense ministerial level), and to convene the first dialogue of this kind in 2025.

The two leaders agreed to further deepen economic cooperation as the key pillar of the bilateral ties; promote high-tech agriculture cooperation and sign a joint vision statement for medium and long-term cooperation in agriculture for 2025 - 2030 period in 2025.

The two PMs agreed that cooperation in science and technology, innovation and high-quality human resource training will become the new pillar of the bilateral relations. From this perspective, the two sides will promote cooperation in such fields like digital economy, semiconductor, atomic energy, internet of things, artificial intelligence, green transition, energy transition.

PM Ishiba affirmed that Japan will support joint research projects and PhD training in semiconductor field through the Networked Exchange, United Strength for Stronger Partnerships between Japan and ASEAN (NEXUS).

He announced that Japan wishes to implement 15 projects in the field of energy transition worth more than $20 billion within the framework of the Asia Energy Transition Initiative (AETI) and the Asia Net Zero Emission Community (AZEC).

The two leaders agreed to kick-start negotiations on a social insurance agreement between Vietnam and Japan in 2025.

On multilateral aspect, the two sides underscored the importance of maintaining the international order, and free, open, inclusive and rules-based trading system on the basis of respect for the fundamental principles of international law and the UN Charter.

They affirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability, resolving disputes in the East Sea through peaceful means on the basis of international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and soon formulating an effective and efficient Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC).

PM Ishiba affirmed that his country will coordinate closely with and support Vietnam to successfully host the APEC Year 2027.

PM Chinh thanked Japan for attending the 2025 P4G Summit, announcing that Vietnam will send a delegation to attend the EXPO 2025 Osaka.