The French region of Rhone-Alpes wants to cooperate with Ho Chi Minh City in boosting sustainable development, environmental protection, urban planning, poverty reduction, gender equality and response to climate change.

Visiting Vice President of the regional council of Rhone-Alpes Veronique Moreira stated this during a working session with Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tai on Nov. 4.

Moreira said Rhone-Alpes has paid due attention to cooperative relations with HCM City , which are demonstrated by recently implemented projects.

Tai said ensuring sustainable development is a consistent target of the city’s socio-economic development strategy, noting that it spends 25 percent of its annual budget on education, training, healthcare, rural development and social security.

The city also gives priority to protecting the environment and water sources, treating waste water and industrial wastes and encouraging the use of green technology and environmentally-friendly materials in construction, the vice chairman said.

As one of the localities forecast to be hardest hit by climate change and rising sea level, HCM City is seeking solutions to effectively cope with and adapt to climate change and will incorporate climate change and rising sea level-related issues into all of its development programmes and projects in the future, Tai added./.