Ho Chi Minh City wants further support from the UK in the building and application of the public-private partnership (PPP) model, said a city official.

At a reception for a UK delegation led by President of the Vietnam-UK Network James Keith Chapman, Vice Chairperson of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Thi Hong said with its rich experience in PPPs, the UK has assisted Vietnam and HCM City in particular in this field over the past time.

The city has also arranged trips to the UK to explore the country’s PPP model and guided its agencies and departments to apply it, she said.

Hong said HCM City has applied such models as the buil d -operate-transfer (BOT) and build and transfer (BT) to mobilise contributions of different economic sectors to large-scale infrastructure projects, adding that the PPP model has been used in the projects.

According to the official, the UK now has 96 projects worth over 700 million USD in HCM City, ranking 11th among countries and territories investing in the city.

In reply, James Keith Chapman said his visit aims to explore HCM City and Vietnam at large, expressing his hope that the city will provide the UK side with information about its socio-economic situation as well as development policies in the coming time.

Host and guest compared notes on the city’s development orientations for the next decade, the implementation of the PPP model in infrastructure and social welfare.

Established early this year on the occasion of the General Secretary of the Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong’s visit to the UK, the Vietnam-UK Network has acted as a bridge to connect the two countries in trade, investment, education, culture and people-to-people exchange, through its links with the UK Foreign Ministry, the Investment-Trade Agency and the British Council.

The network is sponsored by the Vietnamese Government, Foreign Ministry and donors from the private sector.-VNA