A seminar o­n current and future Vietnam-Japan scientific and technological cooperation was held in Hanoi o­n June 19 to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.Addressing the seminar, Minister of Science and Technology Nguyen Quan highlighted the encouraging results of cooperation between Vietnam and Japan in this field, saying that the signed agreement by the two governments in 2006 has provided a legal foundation for promoting cooperation between scientific and technological organizations in both nations.Greater attention should be given to increasing future cooperation in science and technology o­n a par with the two countries’ potential.Japan now has nearly 2,000 valid direct investment projects in Vietnam with total capitalization of US$31billion, accounting for a high proportion of the country’s total foreign direct investment (FDI) capital.The Vietnamese government has chosen Japan as its partner in the No 1 nuclear power plant project in south-central Ninh Thuan province, o­ne of the first two of its kind in Vietnam.In his speech at the seminar, former Japanese Prime Minister and Chair of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Hatoyama Yukio, said Vietnam is interested in space technology, which will require more investment in basic science. Vietnam and Japan should focus o­n transferring advanced technologies and training human resources to boost technological cooperation and improve the quality of consumer goods production.The seminar also reviewed the results of research and came up with priority areas for scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries in the future.An exhibition featuring scientific and technological products and introducing new technologies and models also took place during the seminar.