Vietnamese Minister of Finance Ngo Van Tuan held a working session with President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanaka Akihiko on November 10, as part of Party General Secretary and President To Lam's official visit to Japan.

Finance Minister Ngo Van Tuan (left) and Tanaka Akihiko, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). (Photo: the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance)

This was their second meeting this year, reflecting joint commitment to promoting development cooperation.

At the meeting, Tuan outlined Vietnam's goals of becoming a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income by 2030, and a developed, high-income nation by 2045.

To achieve these targets, the country's investment demand in 2026–2030 is projected to be more than 2.2 times that of the 2021–2025 period, he said.

The official therefore called on the Japanese Government, through JICA, to continue providing funding for Vietnam's essential infrastructure projects.

He also briefed the Japanese side on progress in streamlining the administrative apparatus and strengthening decentralisation and delegation of authority, alongside greater accountability among agencies and localities.

Reviewing cooperation over the past six months, since Tanaka's visit to Vietnam in June, both sides noted positive progress in official development assistance (ODA), particularly through a trilateral task force involving the Vietnamese Ministry of Finance, the Japanese Embassy and JICA in Vietnam.

The mechanism has helped address obstacles facing Japanese-funded ODA projects, including Ho Chi Minh City's Metro Line No. 1 and projects supplying equipment through Japanese grant aid.

Progress was also recorded in negotiating and signing loans and grants for new programmes and projects.

Three key ODA documents – an exchange of notes for the Vietnam-Japan University project, a loan agreement for the O Mon III Thermal Power Plant project, and an agreement facilitating Japanese grant-aid projects – were signed and exchanged in the presence of Party General Secretary and President Lam and Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae on the evening of November 9.

Looking ahead, both sides agreed to make full use of existing dialogue and coordination mechanisms to resolve outstanding issues in projects funded by Japanese ODA loans and grants.

They also pledged to accelerate the O Mon III and Vietnam-Japan University projects and discuss a budget-support loan for artificial intelligence (AI) development.

Tuan called on JICA to work closely with the ministry to harmonise procedures and shorten project preparation times, improving the mobilisation, management and use of ODA funds to meet Vietnam's development needs.

Tanaka affirmed that strengthening cooperation with Vietnam was a priority agreed upon by the two countries' senior leaders.

He praised the trilateral task force's role in resolving project implementation difficulties and called for continued coordination to speed up disbursement, payments to contractors and implementation of projects with committed funding.

He said Japan wished to expand cooperation with Vietnam in infrastructure development, human resource training, AI, science and technology.

With Japan's strengths in AI and semiconductor technology and the participation of leading global companies, he expressed confidence that closer cooperation would help both sides leverage their respective advantages.

Both officials expressed confidence that Vietnam-Japan development cooperation would continue to deepen in a substantive and effective manner, remaining an important pillar of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the two countries in the new development era.

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