Prime Minister sets out on trip to attend expanded G7 Summit

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh left Hanoi on May 19 for Japan to attend the expanded summit of the Group of Seven (G7) and pay a working visit to Japan from May 19 to 21 at the invitation of his Japanese counterpart Kishida Fumio.

The PM was accompanied by Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Tran Van Son, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang, among others.

The invitation of Vietnam to attend the expanded G7 Summit by Japan, which is holding the rotating presidency of the G7, demonstrates the importance that the G7 in general and Japan in particular attaches to the country’s increasing role in the region.

This is the third time Vietnamese leaders have attended the summit, following their attendance in 2016 in Japan and in 2018 in Canada, and the second time Vietnam has been invited as a single nation, not in its capacity as a representative of an organisation or a group of countries in the region.

In the context of Vietnam and Japan marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2023, the trip of PM Chinh to Japan is expected to further strengthen mutual trust and drive bilateral relations forward, particularly cooperation in focal areas such as economy, trade, new-generation ODA, high quality infrastructure, green transformation and energy transition, as well as promote coordination in regional and international issues of shared concern.