General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong met here on Tuesday with Vice Chairman of the Communist Party of Japan (CPJ) Ogata Yasuo to improve bilateral relations. Trong welcomed the visit to Vietnam of the CPJ delegation led by Yasuo, saying the Vietnamese party and people always remember and appreciate the support and assistance of CPJ to Vietnam in their struggle for national independence in the past as well as national construction today. He said the annual theoretical exchange between the two parties is a significant event which helps enhance the mutual understanding and sharing of theoretical and practical experience in the revolutionary cause of each party. The Vietnamese Party leader also said that the CPJ delegation\' s visit would make an important contribution to strengthening the traditional solidarity between the two parties and peoples. Yasuo congratulated the success of the 11th CPV Congress and the election of Nguyen Phu Trong as the CPV General Secretary. He also applauded the achievements attained by the Vietnamese people in their renewal period and sincerely thanked the Communist Party and people of Vietnam for their solidarity and valuable support to the Communist Party of Japan in the past as well as at present. He expressed his pleasure at the development of the traditional solidarity between the two parties and the results of the 4th theoretical exchange, considering it a form of practical and significant cooperation that should be maintained and developed. Yasuo led a CPJ delegation to attend the 4th theoretical exchange between CPV and CPJ held in central Da Nang city in late October. During the talks here, he invited a high-ranking CPV delegation to visit Japan and attend the 5th theoretical exchange in 2012.