Vice Chairman of An Giang provincial People’s Committee Nguyen ThanhBinh suggested the possibility of boosting home-grown farm produceconsumption in Japan during a meeting with Japanese Consul General in HoChi Minh City Nakajima Satoshi in the southern locality on December 1.

Satoshi, for his part, vowed to serve as a bridge connecting An Giang and Japan, especially in agriculture and health care.

Viathe Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), An Giang and Japanhas formed tie-ups since 1997, with over 20 Japanese projects worth morethan 31 billion VND (1.4 million USD) so far, focusing on health care,education, energy, clean water, agricultural personnel training, andrice production-processing-export.

An Giang has also workedclosely with Japan’s Saga university on hi-tech and eco-friendlyfarming. In a joint effort with Japan’s Central Union of AgriculturalCooperatives, the locality and Kagoshima prefecture have stepped upcoordination across agriculture, trade and tourism.

In 2007, the province established a chapter of the Vietnam – Japan Friendship Association with 35 members.

Duringhis visit, the Japanese guest attended a gathering of Vietnamese andJapanese citizens and an exhibition introducing bilateral economic andtourism potential.-VNA