An economic partnership agreement between the two countries would liberalise trade between Vietnam, which joined the World Trade Organisation this year, and Japan, Vietnam's largest aid donor and a major business investor there.

"I personally think it is very desirable to reach an agreement in the next round of talks taking place next year," Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet said at a news conference during a five-day visit to Japan that started on Sunday.

Triet met Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda on Tuesday, when the two agreed to strengthen ties and discussed increasing Japan's official development assistance to Vietnam.

Vietnam imported about US$4.4 billion of goods from Japan in 2006, while Japan bought around US$5.7 billion in Vietnamese goods such as seafood and crude oil last year, Japanese government data showed.

The two countries have been negotiating terms of a free trade deal since January.