Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan has suggested, together with Indonesia, establishing a network of Southeast Asian climate change-adapting cities to share experience and resources in dealing with challenges caused by urbanisation and climate change.

Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan (Photo: VNA) 

Nhan, who is also a Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, made the suggestion during working sessions with leaders of the Indonesian Ministry of National Development Planning and the National Resilience Institute (NRI) in Jakarta, Indonesia, on August 22. 

He lauded the results of the action plan to deploy the Vietnam-Indonesia strategic partnership for the 2019-2023 period as an important foundation for the two nations look to the 10th anniversary of the bilateral strategic partnership in 2023.

HCM City’s leader suggested that the two countries should expand their cooperation to innovation, start-ups and smart urban development. 

The Indonesian leaders said the delegation’s visit offered both sides a chance to share challenges facing Jakarta and HCM City such as traffic congestion, land depression, flooding, environmental pollution and living conditions of local residents. 

Speaking highly of Nhan’s initiative on establishing a network of Southeast Asian climate change-adapting cities, Indonesian Minister of National Development Planning Bambang Permadi Soemantri Brodjonegoro said the idea should focus on transportation, flooding prevention and control, and environmental issues. 

Both sides agreed to assign relevant agencies to discuss ways to deal with issues of mutual concern, especially challenges regarding sea level rise, transportation, personnel training, building economic development strategies, start-ups and innovation in the near future. 

They also exchanged views on Indonesia’s economic development vision and strategy, known as Making Indonesia 4.0, its advantages and disadvantages in national strategic planning. 

In the morning of the same day, Nhan paid a fact-finding trip to Jakarta’s Mass Rapid Transit system and learned about ongoing cooperation model on anti-flooding dykes between Indonesia and the Netherlands. 

On August 21, Nhan held a working session with the University of Indonesia (UI), during which he proposed that the UI enhances cooperation with the Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City, thus contributing to improving high-quality personnel training for the city. 

UI leaders also expressed their wish to boost ties with the city as well as Vietnamese universities in fields of shared concern.