(VOVworld)- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and a high-ranking delegation left Hanoi on Thursday for Japan to attend the 7th Mekong-Japan Summit in Tokyo at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The summit will decide Mekong-Japan cooperation orientations in the 2016-2018 period. On this occasion, Vietnam wants to affirm its commitments and role in Mekong-Japan cooperation and strengthen its ties with other Mekong subregion countries and deepen its strategic partnership with Japan.
The 7th Mekong-Japan Summit in Japan takes place as cooperation between Japan and Mekong subregion countries is creating remarkable results. At the summit, the delegates will review the outcomes of Mekong-Japan cooperation including the Mekong-Japan Action Plan in the 2013-2015 period and map out priorities for the near future.
Outcomes of Mekong-Japan cooperation
Since it was first launched in 2007, the Mekong-Japan cooperation mechanism has proved to be successful. Mekong subregion countries, which include Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam are Japan’s ODA priorities. The Japan-Mekong Partnership focuses on improving infrastructure, strengthening regional links, promoting trade and investment, accelerating poverty reduction and epidemic control and protecting the environment. These efforts are aimed at narrowing development gaps between ASEAN members and contributing to the establishment of the ASEAN Community.
In the last 8 years, Japan has provided ODA capital to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam to help them develop infrastructure. Japan has given 20 million USD to these countries to develop soft infrastructure - the East-West Economic Corridor and the Ho Chi Minh City-Phnompenh-Bangkok Corridor. Japan gave 500 billion Japanese yen to support the Mekong subregion from 2009 to 2012 and increased ODA for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In the 2013-2015 period, Japan gave approximately about 600 billion Japanese yen to help Mekong countries implement their Action Plans. The two sides have deployed the Mekong Japan Industrial and Economic Cooperation Initiative and the Green Mekong Initiative which focuses on water resource management, sustainable forest management, disaster prevention and control and urban environment improvement.
Vietnam’s active role in Mekong-Japan cooperation
A number of projects have been implemented in Vietnam since Vietnam joined the Mekong-Japan cooperation mechanism in 2007. These include the Lach Huyen deep water port project, risk management in customs, and several highway routes. Vietnam has contributed to the cooperation mechanism an initiative for multi-means transportation system that takes advantage of the river network to support existing road and water transportation and reduce overload on the main transportation routes. Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said: “Strengthening water transportation will help reduce costs. We are taking advantage of the Mekong river and connected rivers to reduce transportation on road and sea. This will strengthen trade between Mekong region countries and between the Mekong region and other countries”.
Vietnam has sponsored several activities to boost tourism, promote people-to-people exchanges between Mekong subregion countries and between the Mekong subregion and partner countries like Japan. At the 2015 Mekong Tourism Forum held recently in Da Nang, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Khanh Hai said: “Vietnam wants to connect Vietnamese tourist sites with others in the region and in partner countries to create diverse and attractive new tourist products. Tourist agencies from countries in the Greater Mekong subregion should coordinate and create shared mechanisms and policies to generate favorable conditions for traveling, and encourage enterprises to invest in tourism infrastructure, and promote their tourism products in other countries”.
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s attendance at the 7th Mekong-Japan summit aims to foster Mekong-Japan cooperation to support socio-economic development in the Mekong subregion. Vietnam will take the occasion to affirm its commitment to and role in the cooperation mechanism, reinforcing its friendship and cooperation with other GMS nations and making the Vietnam-Japan Strategic Partnership more comprehensive and effective.