Takebe Tsutomu, Special Advisor to the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance, (left) presents a souvenir to Phan Van Mai, chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Committee. (Photo: VNA)

At a meeting with Takebe Tsutomu, Special Advisor to the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance (JVFPA) on the organisation of the event, Mai appreciated ideas raised by Takebe, who is head of Japan-Vietnam Festival organising committee, regarding the matter, saying that in 2023, it is necessary to well organise activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Japan to mark the past journey and open a new one with deeper and higher cooperation and trust.

Takebe said that in 2021, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the seventh Japan-Vietnam Festival was successfully held with the attendance of 240,000 people. 
The eighth Japan-Vietnam festival is expected to become a symbol of the two countries' victory over the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a symbol of peace and towards the world’s future.