During this high-level event, leaders from Japan and five countries from the Mekong sub-region will review Mekong-Japan cooperation over the past three years following the Tokyo Strategy in 2012.
2012, participating countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand adopted the Tokyo Strategy to build a partnership for common prosperity.
A year later, Lach Huyen port in Hai Phong, one of the most important Japanese ODA projects in Vietnam, held a groundbreaking ceremony. The port aims to serve as a new international gateway between Europe and Northeast Asian countries.
Regarding cultural programs, thousands of Vietnamese youngsters participated in JENESYS 2.0, a program designed for youth exchanges between Japan and other Asian countries.
According to experts, strategic trust established between Japan and Vietnam in particular and Mekong region countries in general is the greatest achievement that Tokyo Strategy has achieved so far.
Speaking of the achievements, experts said that Vietnam has become a “loop”, enhancing the positive effects of Japanese projects in Vietnam to countries in the sub-region.
Japan pledged to provide about 4.8 billion USD in official development assistance to five Mekong basin nations from 2013-2015 to boost the region’s development. During the three-day Summit, the Vietnamese prime minister and his counterparts will craft a new strategy for development in the Mekong region beyond 2015.
