House of Councillors of Japan President Otsuji Hidehisa is visiting Vietnam this week at the invitation of National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

The two countries are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties (September 21, 1973-2023) with numerous activities scheduled.

Over the last 50 years, the bilateral relations have been upgraded from "reliable, stable and long-term partnership" in 2002 to "towards a strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia" in 2006, and "strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia" in 2009, and "extensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia" in 2014, Vietnam Plus reports.

Japan was the first G7 country to acknowledge Vietnam's market economy status in October 2011, and two-way trade has been gradually increasing to reach $40 billion in 2020, $42.7 billion in 2021, $47.6 billion in 2022 and $24.9 billion between January and July this year. Both countries have given each other the most favoured nation (MFN) status since 1999.

Regarding investment, Japan is Vietnam's third largest foreign direct investor, after the Republic of Korea and Singapore, with 5,143 active FDI projects worth more than $71.2 billion as of July this year.

Furthermore, Japan is the largest supplier of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam, making up around 30% of the total funding from foreign donors to the country. Japan's ODA to Vietnam has reached $29.3 billion, $1.8 billion of which was non-refundable aid.

As well as economic trade cooperation, both nations have worked effectively together in areas including education and training, health, culture, tourism and labour.

In addition, among the top 10 foreign arrivals to Vietnam between January and May, Japan was one of the four high-growth Northeast Asian markets, as well as the Republic of Korea with over 1.3 million visitors, China with 399,000, and Taiwan (China) with 252,000 visitors.