Vietnam - Japan: Cooperation in rare earth mining

Xinhua News Agency cited Kyodo news on 9 October that Matsushita, the deputy prime minister of Japan visiting Vietnam, had a meeting with Vietnamese Minister of Agriculture and Trade Vu Huy Hoang, and the two sides discussed about cooperation in rare earth mining in Vietnam.

After the talk, Mr. Matsushita stated that this cooperation plan not only carried out the exploitation of resources but also other issues are very important and should be considered such as environmental protection and infrastructure construction.

Rare earth - An indispensable resource in Japan's industry.

He also said that during the talks, the two sides had a thorough discussion on related items, taking advantage of the time and conditions to complete the signing before the visit of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung later this month. to Japan.

During the October-2010 Japan-Japan summit, Japan's predecessor Nato Kan discussed and reached an agreement to cooperate on rare earth mining with Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Currently, the two governments are discussing specific cooperation agreements and terms.

Along with this move, Xinhua News Agency said on October 8, 2011, the Japanese government is planning to explore large-scale rare earth resources on the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese government office said. In 2012, the Japanese government will invest 22 billion Japanese yen for a period of 4 years to build a survey probe with modern equipment including high-precision ultrasound machine and a robot to conduct the survey. job search for prospecting and rare earth exploration.

The plan includes the work of surveying rare earth resources around islands of Japan and on the Pacific Ocean.

According to a preliminary survey by the University of Tokyo, the Pacific Ocean area near Japan's Okinawa Island has abundant land reserves, and it is estimated that reserves can surpass more than 1000 land reserves. times.

Rare earth resources are considered an essential resource for Japan's electronics and automotive industry.