Former Japan PM Abe passes away after shooting

Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died Friday after being shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, Japanese broadcaster NHK said.

Abe was shot at about 11:30 a.m, Japanese time, while delivering a campaign speech near the Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara, Nara Prefecture. He was critically wounded and died in hospital at 5:03 p.m, Japanese media reported.

Shinzo Abe was the Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007 in his first term, and from December 2012 to September 2020 in the second and third terms.

Under his leadership, Vietnam-Japan economic relations made great progress, with remarkable increases in bilateral trade, increased investment from Japan to Vietnam, and greater mobility of people between the two countries.

The number of Japanese investors expanding into Vietnam and Japanese companies’ interest in the country kept rising during the Abe administration.

The former PM himself made great contributions to creating an environment in which Japanese companies can easily conduct business activities in Vietnam. Vietnam was the first country he visited as PM in his second term and he built very good relationships with Vietnamese leaders.

Japan is currently one of the top investors in Vietnam, with numerous major corporations like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Canon, Panasonic, Yamaha, Suzuki, Mitsubishi, Marubeni, Sojitz, Idemitsu, Sumitomo, Nidec, Sojitz, Aeon, and Mitsui.