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Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc meets with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda yesterday in Tokyo. — VNA Photo

TOKYO – Despite the fact that bilateral trade betweenViet Nam and Japan reached US$21 billion in 2011, there is still room for further growth, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said yesterday during his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Noda expressed his gratitude for the support and aid the Vietnamese people had given Japan during and after the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Meanwhile, Phuc thanked the Japanese government for the official development assistance it had given to Viet Nam over the years and the role played by the Japan International Co-operation Agency in co-ordinating and implementing ODA projects in the country.

Noda said Japan would continue to support Viet Nam with ODA and in transferring technologies, especially for the agricultural sector.

Regarding the East Sea, Noda said Japan supported Viet Nam's position on ensuring peace, stability and maritime freedom and safety and in its drive to settle disputes through peaceful means in accordance with international law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982.

The leaders said both sides would work together to organise Viet Nam-Japan Friendship Year in 2013. Meanwhile, the deputy PM passed on an invitation from Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to Noda to visit Viet Nam.