ASEAN - Japan: Solid Relationship

The ASEAN - Japan Summit is a major political event and a summit of many celebratory activities in Japan and ASEAN countries. The Summit has achieved practical and effective results affecting the ASEAN - Japan ties in the long term. Firstly, the Summit reviewed ASEAN - Japan ties in the past time and underlined that, with enormous efforts from both sides, the ASEAN - Japan relations will continuously develop in all economic, political, cultural and educational aspects to actively contribute to the peace and stability in Southeast Asia and Asia. For many years, Japan is the top partner of trade, investment and official development assistance for many ASEAN countries. ASEAN is also the second largest partner of Japan.

 

In reality, the current ASEAN - Japan relationship has reached the maturity which has laid premise and foundation for solid multifaceted cooperation between the two sides in the new century. Besides, leaders had opportunities to exchange deep and broad opinions about the ASEAN - Japan cooperation future in the fields of trade, investment, finance, infrastructure and human resource development and put forth strong commitments to create the momentum to build and consolidate the ASEAN - Japan strategic partnership in the light of “joint action, joint development.”

 

Japan reaffirmed its commitment to support the implementation of Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI), West East Economic Corridor (WEC) and many Mekong sub-region development projects initiated in the Hanoi Action Plan and the ASEAN Summit.

 

These commitments are absolutely conformable to the policy of the six first ASEAN member countries to assist four new members to narrow the development gap and look forward to building the ASEAN Economic Community by 2020. Following China and India, the Japanese joining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) reflects the high assessments and deep concerns of Japan to the growing solidarity, activeness and prestige of ASEAN in the regional and international arenas and presents long-term commitments of Japan to the regional economic development and political and security development.

In the past time, Vietnam has closely coordinated with other ASEAN countries and Japan, played increasingly active roles in boosting comprehensive cooperative ties and documented cooperation contents in line with the priority of concerned parties to cooperation and development, economic association, and helped map out orientations and actions for developing all-rounded ASEAN - Japan partnership in many years to come. Together with that, Vietnam also initiatively put forth concrete cooperation contents to narrow the development divide within ASEAN in conformity with working contents of the Summit, which are highly appreciated by the host country and other ASEAN countries. Such proposals include giving incentives to goods exported to Japan from new ASEAN member countries, setting up Japanese-run vocational training centres and universities in ASEAN countries and in Vietnam, applying Mekong Sub-region and West - East Economic Corridor development projects, promoting the initiative of Summit between Japan with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. Vietnam’s initiative on poor state governors meeting at the ASEAN Summit 9 was warmly welcomed and added to the Tokyo Action Programme.

 

Japan has become the top economic, commercial and official development assistance (ODA)-granting partner and investor in Vietnam. Cooperation in other aspects such as politics, national defence, culture and education has been also stepped up. Since 2002, leaders of the two countries have agreed on building and developing the reliable and sustainable partnership” ties for the 21^st century. To continue with the above efforts, Vietnam and Japan have exchanged many bilateral meetings through which leaders of both nations highly appreciate mutual cooperation achievements over the past 30 years and agreed that these were the favourable foundation for the two-way relationship in the first three decades of the 21^st century.