Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong on May 31 received Ruan Chengfa, Governor of Yunnan province of China, who is on a working visit to Vietnam.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong (L)
receives Ruan Chengfa, Governor of Yunnan province of China

During the reception, Phong highlighted the flourishing relations between Vietnam and China in general and between HCM City with Yunnan province in particular, saying that HCM City has signed cooperation agreements with 8 provinces and cities of China, including Yunnan. 

While briefing the guest on the southern hub’s socio-economic development, Phong stressed that the city is focusing on developing a smart city, and aims to become a financial hub of the Southeast Asian region. 

He also mentioned challenges facing the city in its development, which come from climate change, rapid population growth, and asynchronous development of urban transport system, noting that addressing those challenges opens up opportunities for cooperation between enterprises of the two nations and the two localities. 

Phong suggested the two sides further promote cooperation in tourism, education-training, with an emphasis on short-term training on human resources development, infrastructure and smart city development,  and logistics industry. 

For his part, Ruan praised HCM City’s development, saying that the locality is an economic motive force of Vietnam, which contributes about 20 percent to the State budget. 

Yunnan wants to cooperate with HCM City in tourism, he said, adding that with its potential and advantages such as beautiful landscapes and the application of information technology in providing services, Yunnan will attract more and more visitors in the future.