Naoto Kan, the Japanese prime minister, has stepped up his efforts to promote overseas trade by concluding an agreement to build two civil nuclear reactors for Vietnam and to co-operate with the Vietnamese government on the exploration and refining of rare earth minerals.
Mr Kan met Nguyen Tan Dung, his Vietnamese counterpart, on Sunday after a summit of Asian leaders in Hanoi. A Japanese government spokesman said the two leaders held “fruitful discussions encompassing political, security, economic and other issues”, including development assistance and possible Japanese projects involving high-speed rail and metro systems.
The civil nuclear reactor deal is a coup for the Kan administration and the first significant order since it embarked on a policy of supporting exports of Japanese technology overseas.