HCM City hopes for stronger collaboration with Singapore

Hanoi (VNA) – Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan hosted a reception for new Singaporean Consul General in the city Kho Ngee Seng Roy on July 24, during which the host said that the city hopes to expand cooperation with Singapore in various fields.

Expressing his delight at the growth of ties between Vietnam as well as HCM City and Singapore, Nhan said in the future, the city will focus on urban development, transport expansion, wastewater treatment and land management, expressing his hope that Singapore will become a partner of the city in these fields.

Briefing the Singaporean diplomat on the city’s socio-economic situation, Nhan said that the city always pays attention to enhancing cooperation in all fields, especially education and high technology, with Singapore.

The city considers the development of hi-tech parks an important motivation in its economic development, he added.

The city leader said he hoped that the city would increase the number of schools meeting international standards by strengthening cooperation with Singapore in headmaster and teacher training.

In tertiary education, HCM City will focus on seven areas of business management, finance-banking, State management, information and communications, artificial intelligence-automation, healthcare and tourism, said Nhan.

For his part, Kho Ngee Seng Roy described HCM City as a dynamic city, saying this is the reason why the number of Singaporean visitors to the city rose 40 percent in 2018, and Singaporean firms see the city as a leading investment destination.

The diplomat told the city leader that a delegation of 40 Singaporean businesses has visited Hanoi and HCM City to seek closer ties with startups, during which Singapore announced the expansion of the Global Innovation Alliance in HCM City.

The alliance aims to connect technology startups of Singapore with their peers in Vietnam, and strengthen partnership between the two countries.-VNA