Vietnam and Japan sign 11 agency and local government agreements during visit
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Lê Hoài Trung said the two countries agreed on the direction of future cooperation during Tô Lâm’s official visit to Japan from November 8 to 11, 2026. They signed 11 agreements between agencies and local governments, while businesses signed about 60 cooperation agreements. Both sides will turn the agreements into specific projects.
Vietnam’s Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm paid an official visit to Japan from November 8 to 11, 2026. After the visit, Foreign Minister Lê Hoài Trung said the two countries had agreed on the direction of cooperation in the next phase and identified priority areas in a joint vision statement.
During the visit, the two sides signed 11 agreements between agencies and local governments, while businesses signed about 60 cooperation agreements. Lê Hoài Trung said the statement covered science, technology and innovation; education, training and human resource development; links between production and supply chains; and finance, investment and development assistance. Cooperation arrangements in energy, digital transformation, semiconductors and other fields were also clarified.
Tô Lâm and Japan’s prime minister witnessed the exchange of cooperation documents between the two countries.（VietVance）
In Japan, Tô Lâm met leaders and political party figures and spoke with heads of businesses, research institutions and universities. Lê Hoài Trung said this was Tô Lâm’s first visit to Japan as Party General Secretary and State President, and the first visit by a General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam in 11 years. He said the visit created new opportunities for the two countries to cooperate on joint research and development, production and sourcing.
Lê Hoài Trung signed a memorandum of cooperation between the Communist Party of Vietnam and Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party.（VietVance）
On the next steps, Lê Hoài Trung said relevant agencies, local governments and businesses in both countries should turn the visit’s outcomes into projects with clear goals, schedules and responsibilities, regularly review progress and address problems that may arise during implementation. He also said Vietnam and Japan should strengthen coordination in multilateral forums, including the United Nations, APEC, ASEAN and the Mekong subregion.
Source: VietVance
