The following is a list of selected news summaries reported last weekend by the Vietnam News Agency.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received former Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo on December 17 on the occasion of his trip to Tokyo to attend the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính had bilateral meetings with leaders of Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia on Sunday 

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called on ASEAN and Japan to strengthen cooperation amidst the global headwinds with various unprecedented challenges so as to develop their comprehensive strategic partnership into a symbol of international solidarity and cooperation.

PM Chính affirmed that ASEAN - Japan is one of the most successful dialogue relationships in the bloc community.

The countries' Prime Ministers agreed to continue enhancing the three countries’ solidarity in ensuring national security and in the cause of national building and development

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had bilateral meetings with leaders of Japan, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia on December 17 in the framework of the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN – Japan Friendship and Cooperation.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Lao and Cambodian counterparts Sonexay Siphandone and Hun Manet on December 17 agreed to continue enhancing the three countries’ solidarity in ensuring national security and in the cause of national building and development at their working breakfast on the occasion of the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation in Tokyo.

The Mekong Delta is to become a region of comprehensive development, modern and uniform infrastructure system, and dynamic economic growth under the Poliburo’s resolution on the region’s socioeconomic development to 2045.

President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Associations (VUFO) Phan Anh Son hosted a reception for a delegation from the Nepal Peace and Solidarity Council (NPSC) led by its Chairman Rabindra Adhikari, who is also a member of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) (CPN-UML), in Hanoi on December 16.

Foreign tourists to Vietnam exceeded 11.2 million in the first 11 months of 2023, 3.8-fold higher than the same period last year, according to the General Statistics Office.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with his Japanese counterpart Kishida Fumio in Tokyo on December 16, as part of his trip to attend the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and have bilateral activities in the East Asian country.

This was the sixth talks between the two government leaders in the past two years and the second in 2023.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh held talks with his Japanese counterpart Kishida Fumio in Tokyo on December 16, as part of his trip to attend the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and have bilateral activities in the East Asian country.

The government leader called for simplifying procedures towards visa exemptions for Vietnamese citizens entering Japan, thereby strengthening the two sides’ tourism cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

The forum was co-hosted by the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh received Chairman of the Japan - Vietnam Parliamentary Friendship Alliance Nikai Toshihiro, Governor of Tokyo Koike Yuriko, and leaders of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) in Tokyo on December 16.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on December 16 attended a Vietnam-Japan economic forum in Tokyo as part of his ongoing trip to the East Asian country for attendance at the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation and bilateral activities.

Vietnam is one of the first 63 countries to join the Global Cooling Pledge proposed by President of the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP28) Sultan Al Jaber within the framework of COP28 recently held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates

Vietnam has secured the title of the World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2023 at the World Travel Awards. This is the fourth time the country has received the honor.