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2009/04/21
Okada, Maehara meet with Vietnamese CP General Secretary
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On April 21, DPJ Vice Presidents Katsuya Okada and Seiji Maehara paid a courtesy call on the General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party Nong Duc Manh at the State Guest House. The meeting was also attended by Shuji Kira and Takashi Nagayasu for the DPJ.
At the start of the meeting, Okada welcomed Manh’s visit to Japan, and said, “Last month, the DPJ attendees here today visited Vietnam, and we had the honour to meet with Prime Minister Nyugen Tan Dung and others. It was my second visit to Vietnam after an interval of 15 years, and I was delighted to see signs of striking development. I confirmed my opinion that the Vietnamese people have a strong will to work, and have a strong desire to develop their nation. Japan and Vietnam should cooperate with each other to contribution to our region.”
Manh responded, “Thank you for your warm words praising my nation and its citizens. The bilateral relationship between Vietnam and Japan has been developing into an extremely friendly one. This current visit by a high-level delegation to Japan is an extension of a series of mutual exchanges [including a visit by the Vietnamese foreign minister]. Furthermore, the Crown Prince’s visit this February was warmly welcomed by the Vietnamese people, and created a good impression [of Japan]. I would like us to work to further strengthen exchanges in various fields, including political, economic and cultural exchanges, and to further develop the bilateral relationship.”
Manh added, “We highly value the assistance that Japan has given Vietnam over many years. Japanese assistance has contributed to improvements in the social economy and to reducing eradication of poverty. We have strengthened measures to prevent corruption, to ensure that Japan’s ODA is used more efficiently. We would like to broaden the fields of cooperation in future. We would like to ask for the cooperation of the DPJ.”
In response, Okada commented, “I believe that Japanese ODA can still make a contribution in Vietnam in areas such as improvement of infrastructure. However, as you mentioned, ODA comes from Japanese taxpayers’ money and so I would like to ask you once again to use this money efficiently. We are aiming to take power in the forthcoming general election, and there is a high possibility of that happening. There will be no change in the stance emphasising the importance of Vietnam under a DPJ government.”
Maehara told Manh, “Through our visit we were able to reconfirm the importance of the bilateral relationship.” The two sides exchanged firm handshakes that confirmed their commitment toward deepening bilateral exchanges.
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