Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung left Hanoi on April 19 bound for Tokyo to attend the fourth Mekong-Japan Summit, scheduled for April 20-21.

The summit, chaired by Japan ’s Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko, will discuss how Japan and the Mekong countries, including Laos , Cambodia , Thailand , Myanmar and Vietnam , can work together to ensure prosperity, stability and sustainable development in the Mekong region, as well as the rest of East Asia .

The summit will review the Mekong-Japan Action Programme 63, the Mekong-Japan Economic and Industrial Cooperation Initiative and the initiative, “A Decade towards a Green Mekong”, and debate ways of boosting cooperation between Japan and the Mekong countries during the 2013-2015 period.

The leaders are expected to adopt the Tokyo Strategy as a foundation for Mekong-Japan cooperation in the future, focusing on promoting communications between the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS), cooperation for mutual development and how to ensure security and protect the environment.

During the summit, PM Dung will deliver a speech on how to advance the Mekong-Japan relationship as well as Vietnam ’s priorities, including the sustainable management and use of the Mekong River ’s water.

To upgrade links within the Mekong region, the Vietnamese Government leader will propose several new initiatives, including developing an integrated transport system to make the best use of river and waterways and promote road and maritime transport.

Vietnam will continue to encourage the Mekong-Japan relationship, confirm the country’s role in the region and consolidate its ties with other GMS countries.

This will strengthen Vietnam and Japan ’s strategic partnership and speed up the implementation of previously made agreements between the two countries.

Vietnam has taken an active part and contributed a lot to the Mekong-Japan cooperation mechanism since it was first established in 2007.

The country has carried out a number of projects within the Mekong-Japan framework, including building the Lach Huyen deepwater harbour in Hai Phong city, the Mekong-Japan vocational training centre and several major roads. It has also sent young people to exchange programmes with Japan and the Mekong countries.

The fourth Mekong-Japan Summit takes place during the development of Vietnam-Japan strategic partnership and Japan is Vietnam ’s leading economic and trading partner.

During his stay in Tokyo, PM Dung will hold bilateral talks with his Japanese counterpart, Noda Yoshihiko and also meet with representatives of the Japanese Federation of Economic Organisations (Keidanren), the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).-VNA