Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong (R) shakes hands with Governor of Belgium’s Antwerp province Cathy Berx. (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City wants to step up cooperation with Belgium’s Antwerp province in the fields where the latter has strengths such as seaport development, smart urban building and renewable energy, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong has said.
Hosting a reception for Governor of Belgium’s Antwerp province Cathy Berx on November 13, Phong laid stress on the robust economic cooperation between Belgium and the Vietnamese southern hub. However, the results still lag behind potential and advantages of both sides, he said.
Phong spoke highly of Antwerp province’s strengths, and pledged to create favourable conditions for Antwerp enterprises who want to study business opportunities and promote investment in the city.
Berx, for her part, said that both localities hold huge potential to cooperate in development of smart cities, construction of green urban areas, and sustainable development.
Together with the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and Investment Protection Agreement (IPA), cooperation between HCM City and Antwerp will make contributions to realising the target of 3 billion USD in bilateral trade in the time ahead as set by the two government’s leaders, she stated.
The governor affirmed that Antwerp stands ready to share experience with HCM City in smart urban area development, including building of an open data warehouse, management of seaports and logistic services by smart technologies, and waste treatment.
Antwerp is willing to coordinate with HCM City to organise conferences discussing cooperation measures so as to bring benefits to enterprises and people of both sides.
To date, Belgian businesses have registered 6.5 million USD in 25 projects in HCM City.
In the past years, Antwerp and the Vietnamese city have carried out a number of cooperative activities such as improving capacity for seaport managers and exchanging experience in using advanced technologies to manage seaports./.
VNA
