At the meeting, Deputy Minister Huynh Vinh Ai welcomed and expressed his support to the culture, sports and tourism activities of Japan held in Viet Nam. Regarding culture, Deputy Minister appreciated the activities organized successfully by Culture Exchange Centre of Japan in Viet Nam such as: “Japanese Cultural Day in Thanh Hoa” – the first activity of National Tourism Year 2015 – Thanh Hoa; the 9^th Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival in Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, Ha Noi… at the same time affirmed to support Japan for organizing this festival in Ho Chi Minh City. Deputy Minister desires Japan continues to support the traditional art activities, photo exhibitions, ao dai performances of Viet Nam… in Japan.

Regarding tourism, according to Deputy Minister Huynh Vinh Ai, Viet Nam actively participates in international tourism fairs in Japan. In recent years, the number of tourists between the two countries increased rapidly. In 2014, Japanese tourists to Viet Nam reached more than 600,000 arrivals and Vietnamese tourists to Japan reached 124,000 arrivals. The number of Japanese tourists to Viet Nam ranks 3^rd in the source markets of Viet Nam. Currently, Viet Nam applies the policy of visa exemption for Japanese citizens (not exceeding 15 days).

Regarding sports, the two countries exchanged delegations of leaders, managers, sport scientists, referees, coaches and athletes to participate in conferences and seminars on sports science, international sports competitions held in the two countries and the ASIADs. In particular, Vietnamese people love football and currently, coaches of Viet Nam National Men and Women Teams are Japanese.

Deputy Minister Huynh Vinh Ai affirmed that Viet Nam Government and MoCST will continue to develop the good relationship with Japan.

At the meeting, the two sides discussed the nomination of “Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution in Kyushu-Yamaguchi Area” heritage to the meeting of World Heritage Committee this year.

Thu Giang