Vietnam appreciates active contributions toward this end by other countries including Japan, which provided the Southeast Asian nation with patrol vessels, he said ahead of his trip to Japan from Sunday.

Despite the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Vietnam will keep working with other TPP partners, such as Japan, to help the multilateral free trade pact take effect at an early date, Phuc noted.

Observing that the Vietnam-Japan relationship is the smoothest ever, the prime minister particularly welcomed the visit to his country this spring by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko as a symbol of the two nations' friendship.

The prime minister said that during his visit to Japan he aims to seek further support from the Japanese government for high quality infrastructure investment and encourage more Japanese companies to invest in Vietnam, expressing hope for expanding bilateral trade. (Jiji Press)