Hanoi, Frankfurt to set up twinning ties

Hanoi (VNA) – Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and Mayor of Frankfurt Peter Feldmann have agreed to establish a twin city partnership between the two cities during a recent meeting.

Chung met Feldmann on June 20 as part of his ongoing visit to Germany and other European countries.

The Hanoi leader updated his counterpart on the development of the capital of Vietnam and proposed the two sides establish twinning relations and partner in areas like tourism, urban planning, human resources training and technological transfer.

To do so, the two cities need to increase cultural exchanges and ramp up investment promotion events, he said. He also invited Feldmann to visit Hanoi.

Feldmann, for his part, said he was impressed with what Hanoi has done to improve social welfare for its people and reduce poverty and supported Chung’s proposals.

Feldmann wants the two sides to study the key contents of the cooperation and soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to translate these contents into reality. He accepted his guest’s invitation and expected that the agreement on the twining ties will be inked during his trip to Hanoi.

On the same day, Chung met with President of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) Stefan Messer.

Messer proposed holding an investment promotion conference to connect businesses from Germany and Hanoi in Frankfurt in the first quarter of 2019. The event will be organised by the FCCI, German Business Association and German Industry and Commerce Vietnam.

Chung agreed with his host on this, saying Hanoi is ready to work with the German side. He also looked forward to the FCCI’s continued efforts to call for German investment in Hanoi in transport, sewage sludge and waste treatment, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, air and water monitoring, urban management and urban government building.

Previously, the Hanoi leader visited the Frankfurt Book Fair’s headquarters where he was received by Vice President of the fair Claudia Kaiser.

He thanked Kaiser for sharing with Hanoi experience in personnel training and event planning for large book fairs and voiced his hope for the capital city to sign an agreement for cooperation with the fair.

They exchanged invitations for each other to Hanoi’s annual book fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018 this October. Kaiser noted that Hanoi will be a very important exhibitor at the Frankfurt Book Fair as the event will host a forum on Southeast Asia.

In his visit to Frankfurt, Chung had a field trip to FES waste-to-energy plant which has a total investment of 260 million EUR and a 10,000-tonne-of-waste storehouse. The facility is capable of daily treating 1,500 tonnes of waste collected from Frankfurt and five neighbouring cities.

He expected the plant’s model can be applied in Hanoi.-VNA