Speaking at the ceremony, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said after 40 years of diplomatic ties, the friendship and cooperation between Vietnam and Japan has developed strongly in all fields, with the relations contributing heavily towards peace and prosperity in the Asian region.

Japan is now the largest foreign investor and one of the top three trade partners of Vietnam , not to mention in-depth cooperation in the fields of science-technology, tourism and workforce training, Minh said.

He stressed that Vietnam-Japan relations are now at their most developed stage in the history of the two countries and will continue to comprehensively develop.

For his part, Japanese Minister of Justice Sadakazu Tanigaki thanked Vietnamese people for their support to Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in March, 2011.

He also expressed his hope that in addition to economic and judicial cooperation, cultural and people-to-people exchanges and tourism ties between the two sides will be further strengthened in the future.

The "Vietnamese Days in Japan" event, hosted by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry in conjunction with several relevant ministries and Japanese partners, is the biggest-scale event that Vietnam has organised in Japan in the Vietnam-Japan Friendship Year 2013.

Through the event, the Vietnamese Government wants to introduce Japanese friends to Vietnam , its people and the ample potential for trade and investment cooperation.

The event incorporates a series of activities to be held in five major cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya and Fukuoka, including cultural festivals, seminars on trade-investment, science-technology and tourism, as well as art performances.