Addressing the event, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio reaffirmed the importance of the relationship between Japan and ASEAN. He said Japan supports the central role of ASEAN in the regional structure, and commits to enhancing cooperation between the two sides in the coming time.

ASEAN leaders expressed their gratitude for the assistance Japan has provided for the regional countries in the fight against Covid-19. They said they hoped that Japan would continue to be a leading trade partner of ASEAN as the bilateral trade turnover reached 204 billion USD in 2020 despite the pandemic while investment from Japan to ASEAN topped 8.5 billion USD.

PM Chinh, for his part, stressed that the two sides should have close coordination to recover and stabilize the supply chain which has been disrupted by the pandemic over the past time.

The Vietnamese government leader called on Japan to continue supporting ASEAN to narrow d♕evelopment gap and promote an inclusive and sustainable development in underdevelo🌄ped areas of ASEAN, including the Mekong sub-region./.