Japan 's trade and industry minister said Tuesday that he doesn't see a contradiction between the government's policy of promoting nuclear power plant exports and its goal of reducing or eliminating the use of nuclear power at home.

"Decisions that other sovereign nations make do not have to be the same as ours," Yukio Edano told reporters at a regular press conference.

Prime Minister Noda is expected to announce early next week how the government plans to proceed with nuclear power generation going forward.

The government is expected to choose one of three scenarios: phasing out nuclear power by 2030, reducing dependence to 15%, or keeping it at current levels around 20% to 25%. Mr. Noda and his ministers have shown an inclination toward the zero scenario recently in response to rising public opposition in the wake of the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s (9501.TO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

But in what appears at least on the surface to be a double-standard, Japan has also been busy promoting lucrative nuclear plant exports to emerging countries as way of propping up its economy.

Thanks to their technological prowess and high efficiency, Japanese firms such as Hitachi Ltd. (6501.TO) are in high demand overseas for orders for nuclear plants.

Mr. Edano explained that different countries have different environments compared with Japan , which regularly "faces huge risks from earthquakes and tsunamis."

He also argued that Japan has knowledge including lessons from the Fukushima disaster, which would be helpful for countries who want to introduce nuclear power plants.

In October 2010, Vietnam chose Japan as a partner in the construction of two nuclear reactors. The southeast Asian country stuck to the agreement even after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011.

In his visit to Vietnam in mid-August, Mr. Edano and Vietnam 's Science and Technology Minister Nguyen Quan signed a preliminary agreement under which Tokyo will cooperate with Hanoi in making compensation rules for damages caused by a potential nuclear power accident.

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