Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung sought support from former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama for cooperation in application of information technology (IT), during a meeting in Hanoi on June 24.

Vietnam values IT application in all dimensions of life, considering it a significant way to improve economic competitiveness and national governance capacity, he said, adding that the country has devised its own strategy to become a strong IT country.

The Vietnamese government leader highlighted developments in bilateral ties, particularly a 3.5-fold increase in two-way trade from a decade ago to nearly 30 billion US and expected to reach 50 billion USD by 2020.

Japan is also the largest investor in Vietnam with over 2,400 projects worth 37 billion USD and the biggest supplier of official development assistance, valued at more than 25 billion USD over the past 20 years.

Hatoyama, who is on a Vietnam visit to attend the Vietnam Information and Communications Technology Summit 2015 on June 25, assured his host that Japan is willing to share IT experience with Vietnam, especially its applications in agriculture, fisheries, transport, smart city building, e-government and e-customs.

He pledged to promote partnership to help Vietnam bring IT into farming, fisheries and enterprises and revealed that he will lead several business delegations to Vietnam to find cooperation opportunities this year.

The guest added that he will also foster bilateral collaboration across labour, vocational training and sports.-VNA