Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� October, 2002

Prime Minister Meets with General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Thursday, October 3, 2002 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Nong Duc Manh, at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. The visit of General Secretary Manh to Japan is in response to the invitation of Prime Minister Koizumi on his visit to Viet Nam in April this year. The purpose of the visit is to further deepen friendly relations between the two countries toward next year's thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Viet Nam. At the meeting, both leaders agreed to commit to concluding negotiations on an investment agreement between Japan and Viet Nam by the end of the year. That evening, Prime Minister Koizumi hosted a dinner at the Prime Minister's Official Residence, where the Prime Minister stated in an address, "The Doi Moi (reform) policy being pursued in Viet Nam, and the structural reform which I am pursuing, are similar to each other. When I visited Viet Nam, I said that I would make efforts to be deemed worthy of the moniker "Mr. Doi Moi (reform)" in Japan. I intend to cooperate unsparingly in regard to the policy of doi moi in your country."