[Provisional Translation]

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the Conference on Investment Promotion into Viet Nam held in Tokyo.
In his address, the Prime Minister said,

"I would like to extend my heartfelt welcome to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and members of the Vietnamese business community upon your visit to Japan.
I place great importance on Japan's relations with Viet Nam. I visited Viet Nam together with an economic mission of approximately 130 people during my first administration in 2006. It was my first time promoting Japan at the highest level. Thanks to that visit, the number of Japanese companies operating in Viet Nam has grown remarkably.
After becoming Prime Minister once again, Viet Nam was the first country I visited. I am overjoyed to see the development of our relationship in all fields, including politics, the economy, culture, and human exchanges under our Extensive Strategic Partnership.

Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan recently visited Viet Nam for the first time. It was a historic visit that lifted our bilateral relations to new heights.
This is the fifth time that I have met with Prime Minister Phuc. I am certain that our economic relations will continue to develop under the leadership of Prime Minister Phuc. When I visited Viet Nam in January, I held a summit meeting with Prime Minister Phuc that included members of the business community. Prime Minister Phuc listened with enthusiasm to the opinions of Japanese companies.

Together with Prime Minister Phuc, I will continue to support active investments by Japanese companies through the development of high quality infrastructure, improvements to the investment environment, and the fostering of human resources. I hope that Prime Minister Phuc as well will continue to consider the views of Japanese companies.

The world is also watching Viet Nam. This is because Viet Nam is actively working on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and is promoting domestic reforms.
This momentum must not come to a halt. Japan will work together with Viet Nam to steadily promote free trade.

The 11 TPP countries are working together to that end and will aim to bring this to fruition. Furthermore, it is important that we aim to make the RCEP a high quality agreement based on the outcomes of the TPP, and promote such efforts on a step-by-step basis. Viet Nam will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in November. Japan will extend its full cooperation toward the success of the APEC meeting in Viet Nam. We will extend our utmost cooperation so that we can produce significant results that promote free trade at the Economic Leaders' Meeting.

I sincerely hope that this visit by Prime Minister Phuc will further advance Japan-Viet Nam economic relations. Finally, I wish to conclude my remarks with the promise that I will do everything I can together with Prime Minister Phuc."