Vietnamese PM to be major speaker at “Asia Future” in Japan
During his stay, he will attend the 15th The Future of Asia international conference themed "Asia Confronting Challenges -- Pursuit of New Frontiers" in Tokyo on May 21-22.
The Vietnamese PM’s visit will take place only one month after the visit by Party Chief Nong Duc Manh in April. Vietnam and Japan have just stated they will develop the strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia.
The visit aims to promote economic, trade and investment ties between the two countries. Japan is one of the most important economic partners of Vietnam, and the largest provider of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, with around $14 billion, and the third-largest investor in Vietnam, with over $16 billion.
Two-way trade revenue between Vietnam and Japan reached around $17 billion last year, $2 billion more than the targeted figure of $15 billion for 2010.
The two governments are expecting the Japanese Congress’ approval of the bilateral Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) to strengthen economic cooperation between the two sides in the areas of agriculture, industry, trade and investment, human resources, tourism, the environment and transportation.
On this occasion, the Vietnamese PM will discuss the export of Vietnamese manpower to Japan. Vietnam opened a labour management office in Japan in 2004. Around 6,700 Vietnamese workers went to Japan last year.
Key speaker at The Future of Asia conference
This annual conference, held by Nikkei Newspaper, is a prestigious forum in the region, attracting senior government officials and politicians of many Asian countries and big economic groups in the world.
With the theme “Asia Confronting Challenges -- Pursuit of New Frontiers", the conference’s key speaker will be the Vietnamese prime minister.
On the opening day, May 21, PM Nguyen Tan Dung will give a presentation on the challenges facing Asia and six groups of solutions to regain growth and to overcome regression.
Minister of Transport Ho Nghia Dung will be the guest at the discussion entitled “Discovering potentials of the East Asian industrial corridor – the influence of big logistic infrastructure projects”.
The conference will see the participation of South Korean PM Seung-soo, Lao PM Bousone Bouphavanh, former Malaysian PM Mahathir bin Mohamed, former Singaporean PM Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, former US Secretary of Defence William Perry.
World leaders will discuss difficulties facing Asia in the global financial and economic crisis and the necessity of opening new fields of cooperation to help underdeveloped countries develop more strongly integrate into the regional economy.
