President Vo Van Thuong on November 28 thanked generations of Tokyo leaders for actively supporting the multifaceted cooperation between the capital city of Japan and Vietnamese localities, especially Hanoi capital.

The leader, who is paying an official trip to Japan, made the remarks while joining Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko in visiting ‘Banh mi Xin chao’, a Vietnamese sandwich restaurant opened by two former students from Vietnam, in the morning of the day.

The chain of ‘Banh mi Xin chao’ restaurants was established in 2016 by Bui Thanh Duy, 37, and Bui Thanh Tam, 32, who are brothers from the central province of Quang Nam. Weathering numerous initial difficulties, they have created many new flavours from the original ‘banh mi’ of Quang Nam’s Hoi An city. The chain now has 15 restaurants across Japan.

Via ‘banh mi’, they hope to help popularise the Vietnamese cuisine and culture as well as enthusiasm and wisdom of young Vietnamese people to locals, contributing to the solidarity and development of the V
ietnamese community in Japan and to the cultural and economic ties between the two counties.

At the restaurant imbued with Vietnamese characteristics in Tokyo, President Thuong, his spouse, and Japanese officials tasted typical dishes of Vietnam such as ‘banh mi’, the Quang noodles, ‘pho’, coffee, fresh spring rolls, and sweetened porridge.

Appreciating generations of local leaders’ promotion of multifaceted ties between Tokyo and Vietnamese localities, President Thuong also highly valued their facilitation for Vietnamese enterprises and people to do business and work in the city.

He noted that Vietnam and Japan share many cultural and culinary similarities which have contributed to the particularly good relations between the two countries and their peoples.

The State leader said he is proud that more and more young people of Vietnam like the two founders of ‘Banh mi Xin chao’ have been exerting efforts to grasp development opportunities in Japan. He also considered their efforts as a contribution to the
popularisation of the Vietnamese culture here and the enhancement of bonds between the two peoples.

Governor Koike congratulated President Thuong on his successful talks with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, and on the leaders’ adoption of a joint statement on the elevation of the countries’ relations to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership for peace and prosperity in Asia and the world’.

She described this as a greatly significant moment during the Vietnamese leader’s visit, organised amid the 50th anniversary of the two countries’ diplomatic ties with numerous celebrations being held in both countries.

She expressed her belief that the visit will be successful and create a particularly important hallmark in bilateral relations.

The Governor added Tokyo is deploying a high-tech anti-flooding system, and it is ready to cooperate with Vietnamese cities in this field.

President Thuong called on Koike to continue creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese people to work, live, and study in Tokyo.
He also took this occasion to thank leaders of major Japanese enterprises for investing in Vietnam, thus substantially helping with the country’s socio-economic development and life quality improvement.

The establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership is an important milestone heralding a new chapter of bilateral relations, he went on.

He also asked the Tokyo Governor to promote the sharing of the city’s anti-fire and anti-flooding experience with Hanoi and other Vietnamese localities./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency