HCM City (VNA) – Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Duong Ngoc Hai on September 25 expressed his hope for stronger tourism cooperation between the southern metropolis and Portugal’s Porto city whose Historic Centre was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
Receiving Porto’s Deputy Mayor Ricardo Valente, who is in HCM City for a friendship dialogue and an economic forum, Hai noted that tourism remains an economic spearhead sector of the city and expressed his hope for travel firms of the two sides to enhance exchanges and share experience in product development and promotion.
He suggested Porto encourage its enterprises to help HCM City in heritage preservation and restoration, thus contributing to strengthening economic and cultural cooperation and exchange between the two cities.
The official also said the two sides should intensify coordination in organising fairs to foster trade ties and share experience in innovation and startup.
Hai noted his belief that Valente’s visit will create a foundation for many new projects and cooperation activities between the two sides in the coming time, contributing to the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding they signed in 2023.
For his part, Valente said the HCM City Friendship Dialogue and Economic Forum would help the southern economic hub boost investment cooperation. He shared Hai’s view on tourism collaboration between the two cities as more and more Portuguese people have been travelling to Vietnam.
The official pointed to potential for stronger cooperation in economy, especially in innovation, saying Porto businesses want to penetrate into Southeast Asia through HCM City.
Referring to the Vietnamese Embassy to be inaugurated in Portugal in late 2025, Valente said he believes that it will play a role in enhancing the diplomatic ties between the two countries./.
