Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi began a 24-hour visit to Vietnam Saturday on the first leg of a four-nation Asia-Pacific trip aimed at
bolstering Japan's role in the region.
The trip is Koizumi's second to Southeast Asia in three months. He is to meet
with all three of Vietnam's top leaders to discuss investment and trade,
including Japanese concerns that US companies might receive preferential
treatment under a US-Vietnam trade agreement approved last year.
Japan sees Vietnam as a key outpost for Japanese influence in the region, in
part because of its central location in Southeast Asia near important shipping
lanes. Tokyo is Vietnam's largest aid donor, and agreed to increase its pledge this year by 8% in yen terms, despite an overall 10% cut in its aid budget.
Japan is also the largest purchaser of Vietnamese exports. Its companies have
invested $4.07 billion in 338 projects in Vietnam, making Japan the third
largest source of foreign investment after Singapore and Taiwan. "Vietnam is confident that this visit will usher in a new stage in the development of friendship and cooperation between the two countries," Vietnam's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
In recent meetings with Vietnam's government, Japanese officials have sought
better investment conditions and a guarantee that Japanese companies will
receive the same benefits as US companies under the US-Vietnamese trade
pact. Koizumi, who took office April 26 last year, was to meet with communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh and Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Saturday. On Sunday, he is to lay a wreath at the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and meet with President Tran Duc Luong.
He then heads to East Timor for talks with President-elect Xanana Gusmao, and
then to Australia and New Zealand. Koizumi is expected to propose a bilateral free-trade agreement with Australia when he meets Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Canberra Wednesday. In January, Koizumi toured the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.
Japanese prime ministers have customarily headed overseas during Japan's
"Golden Week" holidays, which usually run from the last weekend of April through
the first week of May. The entire country virtually shuts down and hundreds of
thousands of Japanese make trips abroad.
Bureau Report
