Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam and Osaka city of Japan have agreed to promote bilateral cooperation in economics, environment and water management following their memorandum of understanding for the 2011-2015 period.

Under the MoU, signed in HCM City on July 7 by Deputy Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai and Osaka Mayor Kunio Hiramatsu, the two sides will share experiences and seek cooperation opportunities for projects on environmental protection, water supply, flood mitigation, liquid waste treatment and solid waste management, as well as cooperation in human resources.

Deputy Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai spoke highly of cooperation between Vietnam and Japan as well as between localities of the two countries.

He stressed the city’s needs to cooperate with foreign partners, including those from Japan, to address issues it is facing such as traffic congestion, flooding and environmental pollution.

Mayor Kunio Hiramatsu affirmed Osaka ’s willingness to cooperate and help HCM City with flooding issues and environmental protection.

He said he believed in further development in cooperation between the two cities, saying that they should promote cooperation in other fields apart from flood mitigation, water supply, environment and transport, as well as promptly implement detailed cooperation in the signed areas./.