Vietnamese and Japanese localities have enormous untapped potential for cooperation, according to Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Doan Xuan Hung.

The ambassador told Vice Chairman of the Hai Phong city People’s Committee Do Trung Thoai during a working session in Tokyo on April 22 that partnership between provinces and cities of the two countries is a good way to go besides traditional cooperative channels.

He noted that while governmental cooperation remains the main focus of the countries’ extensive strategic partnership, relations between localities have intensified over the past years, with the partnership between Hai Phong City and Kitakyushu city of Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture as one outstanding instance.

Vice Chairman Do Trung Thoai, who is making a working trip to Japan, said Kitakyushu has helped Hai Phong build a strategy on boosting green growth and reducing greenhouse gas emission that includes environmental treatment, clean water supply and transport system planning.

His visit aims to seek collaboration with Fukuoka in the aquatic and education sectors, he noted, adding that Hai Phong is also exploring cooperation opportunities with Niigata prefecture, an exemplar of rice production and farm work mechanisation in Japan.-VNA