Can Tho, Switzerland strengthen multifaceted cooperation

 

Can Tho (VNA) – The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho wishes to receive continued support from Switzerland and the World Bank in climate change response, urban development, and tourism-trade-service development, said a local official.

At a reception for Swiss Ambassador to Vietnam Ivo Sieber in the city on June 22, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Quang Manh expressed his hope that Swiss enterprises will enhance investment cooperation with the city.

He said that Can Tho boasts fine relations with Switzerland in all fields such as politics, foreign affairs, culture, sports, tourism and economy, trade and investment. However, the two sides still see a lot of potential to develop them in the near future.

Can Tho has favourable conditions in agricultural production, aquaculture and fruit cultivation, he said, adding that as a key city in the Mekong Delta, Can Tho is determined to build itself into the region’s economic, industrial, commercial and service centre.

For his part, Ambassador Ivo Sieber said that the Mekong Delta is a very important socio-economic region but now it is greatly affected by climate change. He said he hopes that Switzerland will continue strengthening cooperation in this field with Can Tho and is willing to cooperate with the city to improve its institutional and technical capacity as well as the ability of its civil servants.

According to the diplomat, the close coordination of management agencies at different levels in planning and managing measures to renovate urban areas is an important factor to attract investment from the private sector.

Over the past years, Switzerland has coordinated with the World Bank to support the city in strengthening its resilience to climate change through the project “Developing Can Tho city and strengthening adaptation capacity”. Nearly 40 percent of the city’s population with approximately 420,000 people in the core area are expected to directly benefit from the project and 2,675 hectares of land will be free from flooding.

The number of indirect beneficiaries from the project is even greater, including the city's remaining population of about 1.25 million and 10.3 million in the Mekong Delta, equivalent to 60 percent of the region’s total population.

Can Tho is one of many cities within the framework of Swiss cooperation with Vietnam. Switzerland supports the city in many areas such as flood prevention and early warning, urban development and urban resilience enhancement, sustainable tourism, public finance management, business registration and agricultural reform.

The Swiss Government is committed to assisting the economic transition, including the development of green cities with climate resilience and adaptation, in the Mekong Delta, he added.

In addition to meeting with municipal leaders, the Swiss Ambassador also visited a number of Swiss-funded climate change prevention projects in the city./.