On October 15th, 2025, as part of the Ministry of Construction's working trip to Tokyo, Japan, Minister Trần Hồng Minh held a working session with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan (MLIT) and the ASEAN-Japan Smart Cities Association (JASCA).
Overview of working session.
At the meeting, Minh highly appreciated Japan's experience in smart city development and climate change response. The Japanese side agreed with the proposals from the Vietnamese delegation and reached a high consensus on drafting a Memorandum of Understanding as a foundation for bilateral cooperation, focusing on key areas including the development of a smart city implementation handbook, formulation of regulations and standards, recognition of smart cities, and human resource training.
Minister Tran Hong Minh spoke at the working session.
Minh also asked Japanese enterprises to enhance cooperation in areas which they have strengths, such as: developing public transportation systems in major cities, passenger feeder systems for urban railway lines, and the development of public transport vehicles in sync with urban development and climate change response.
Minister Tran Hong Minh presented a souvenir to the ASEAN - Japan Smart Cities Association.
Also at the meeting, the Japanese side shared about the stages of smart urban development including data collection, data processing, information security, financial sustainability… Urban infrastructure is the backbone of urban development; smart cities will contribute to improving the efficiency of management, exploitation and promoting sustainable urban development.
On this occasion, a representative of Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) respectfully invited Minister Trần Hồng Minh to attend the 7th Asean - Japan smart cities high-level conference, scheduled to be held in November 2025 in Japan. This is an annual event held since 2019 to promote cooperation between Japan and countries within the Asean Smart Cities network. The Ministry of Construction serves as Vietnam’s national representative in the Asean Smart Cities network.
As part of the working trip, on the afternoon of October 14th, 2025, the delegation visited and held a working session with the Mitsubishi Research Institute (MRI) to promote cooperation and exchange experiences in the development of smart urban areas.