Tokyo: Japanese Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako welcomed Vietnamese President Vo Van Thuong and his wife at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the four held talks for around 25 minutes and had lunch together.

During the meeting, the president said that everyone in Vietnam remembers visits to the Southeast Asian country by Emperor Naruhito, then Crown Prince, in 2009, and then Emperor Akihito and then Empress Michiko in 2017.

The Emperor expressed his hope that the Vietnamese leader’s visit to Japan will help further the longstanding relationship between the two countries.

JIJI Press