At the beginning of the meeting, H.E. Sugi Ryotaro sincerely thank H.E Nguyen Ngoc Thien for welcoming the delegation. H.E Sugi Ryotaro said: In recent years, the relationship between Japan and <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vietnam has been tightened. Through the media including press and television, the tourism industry of the two countries have been stimulated. The number of tourist as well as trade between the two countries is growing rapidly and remains on the rise.</st1:country-region>

In the area of sport, Ambassador Ryotaro expressed Japan’s desire to train boxing athletes for the purpose of competing in the world tournament. He affirmed that if Vietnam requires assistance, Japan will send a team of experts for aiding in the search of young talented individuals in order to formulate a long term training strategy for Boxing and Judo athletes.

H.E. Nguyen Ngoc Thien affirmed that the major desire of Vietnam Sports is to win gold medals in Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Vietnam has achieved a gold medal in Rio 2016 and this serves as a motivation for Vietnam Sport to accomplish this objective. H.E Nguyen Ngoc Thien affirmed that Vietnam Sport will send the best athletes in the upcoming Olympic Games.

With regards to the proposal for supporting Boxing and Judo, according to H.E. Nguyen Ngoc Thien, the Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism will instruct the Vietnam Sport Administration to study on the detailed plan and contents of cooperation in the two sports as proposed by Ambassador Ryotaro.