The city of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, the site of the nation's worst outbreak of mercury poisoning, and the Chinese city of Zhangjiagang are promoting exchanges on environmental issues, Minamata officials said.

The exchange aims to allow Kumamoto to share with China lessons it learned while dealing with the poisoning. Factory discharges in China are causing mercury poisoning, while the nation also suffers other serious pollution as a result of economic development, the officials said Thursday.

Using its exchange with Zhangjiagang in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu as a starter, Kumamoto hopes to set up a network to exchange opinions with several Chinese cities on environmental policies in the future, the officials said.

The move is part of Minamata's environment protection policies to help other countries deal with poisoning.