PM’s trip to Japan, attendance at expanded G7 summit a success: Foreign Minister

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and heads of delegations at the expanded G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan. (Photo: VNA)

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s freshly ended trip for attendance at the expanded Summit of the Group of Seven (G7) and a working visit to Japan was a success in both bilateral and multilateral aspects, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son told the media following the visit.

According to FM Son, during nearly three days in Japan, PM Chinh chaired and attended about 40 activities, including working sessions and meetings with Japanese leaders as well as circles, businesses, friends in Japan, along with leaders of countries and international organisations.

Multilaterally, Vietnam contributed to the G7's expanded summit approaches and important solutions from the perspective of a developing country, aiming to promote industrialisation, modernisation and extensive and comprehensive international integration, the minister said.

At the working sessions, PM Chinh highlighted many important messages, including promoting a more substantive and effective global partnership, upholding international solidarity, and persevering with multilateral cooperation in order to solve unprecedented challenges currently.

The PM also stressed that sustainable development, climate change response, emission reduction and energy transition can only be successful through a global approach with the engagement of all people, ensuring balance and reasonableness in line with conditions and different development levels of countries.

He further urged that the spirit of the rule-of-law, respect for the UN Charter and international law, and settlement of all disputes through peaceful measures should be promoted and implemented with specific commitments.

According to FM Son, ideals and proposals given by PM Chinh were highly valued by leaders of countries and international organisations, contributing to building a balanced and holistic approach to addressing global challenges. The substantial and responsible participation of Vietnam has contributed greatly to the joint efforts of the international community to maintain peace and stability and speed up economic recovery and development on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, matching the interests and concerns of developing countries.

On the bilateral aspect, the PM’s talks and discussions with the Japanese PM, leaders of Hiroshima and different circles of Japan contributed to further enhancing political trust and promoting the Vietnam - Japan extensive strategic partnership. This is especially meaningful in the context where the two sides are celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, Son said.

PM Chinh also had tens of bilateral meetings with G7 leaders, guests and representatives from international organisations attending the summit to discuss specific and practical measures to beef up bilateral relations and foster coordination in matters of shared concern.

During the discussions, the partners lauded the role and position of Vietnam and affirmed their willingness to strengthen all-round cooperation with Vietnam, focusing on economy and trade as well as the settlement of emerging issues such as food security, energy security, climate change response, green economy, circular economy and innovation.

At the summit and bilateral meetings, leaders of all countries underscored the significance of ensuring maritime and aviation security and safety as well as the settlement of disputes and differences through peaceful measures on the basis of international Law, especially the UNCLOS 1982, along with the full implementation of the DOC and the completion of an effective and substantive COC at an early date.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh at a discussion on Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment at the expanded G7 Summit. (Photo: VNA)

The expanded G7 Summit took place in Hiroshima from May 20-21 under the chair of Japan. The summit adopted a Hiroshima Action Statement for Resilient Global Food Security and agreed on the need to create new motivation for economic recovery and development, G7 leaders also agreed that amid the complicated world situation, it is necessary to uphold multilateralism and international cooperation, and cope with disputes through peaceful measures, protecting security and people’s safety.

The countries underlined the need to strictly implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC), and move towards achieving a substantive and effective Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982).

Regarding specific impacts of PM Chinh’s trip on the Vietnam-Japan extensive strategic partnership, FM Son said that during his stay in Japan, PM Chinh had 13 working sessions.

He and Japanese PM Kishida Fumio agreed to promote the extensive strategic partnership between Vietnam and Japan for peace and prosperity in Asia to a new height, especially in 2023 which marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations. They also agreed to increase Japan's provision of new-generation ODA with high incentives, simple and flexible procedures for large-scale strategic infrastructure development projects in Vietnam.

The two leaders reached a consensus on further promoting cooperation in new potential fields such as green transformation, digital transformation, emission reduction and energy transition.

They agreed to continue fostering and deepening collaboration in people-to-people exchange, locality-to-locality cooperation, education-training and tourism, while working closely together in supporting and creating favourable conditions for the nearly 500,000-strong Vietnamese community in Japan.

Vietnam and Japan also concurred to coordinate their stances on issues of mutual concern at multilateral and regional forums such as ASEAN, the United Nations, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the ASEAN-EU Meeting (ASEM), as well as on the East Sea issues.

FM Son underlined that the outcomes of PM Chinh’s trip to Japan contributed to sustainably promoting the extensive strategic partnership with Japan on the foundation of strong political trust, practical economic cooperation and perse cultural, social and people-to-people exchanges, meeting the aspirations and interests of both peoples./.