Ho Chi Minh City Holds Friendship Dialogue with Foreign Localities for The First Time

An overview of the dialogue. Photo: VOV

The first Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue (FD HCMC), themed “Resilience Adaptation for Recovery and Development”, was held on December 3 with the participation of over 20 foreign delegations from many countries, such as Germany, Korea, the United States, Australia, Japan, Russia, EU countries, and ASEAN nations, VNA and VOV reported.

The event aims to promote the friendship and cooperation between HCM City and foreign localities as well as popularise the country and people to international friends.

Speaking at the opening, Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai said in addition to the rapid expansion of cooperative relations, the city’s collaboration activities are diversified, bringing many practical results, contributing to the implementation of the country’s foreign policy and serving the city’s socio-economic development.

Currently, HCM City has established friendly and cooperative relations with 53 localities in all 5 continents. Among them, the oldest friend of the city is Manila of the Philippines and the newest patner is the state of Victoria of Australia (establishing a friendly cooperative relationship since May 2022).

The official emphasised that a “Mayors’ conference” that took place right after the opening would be an opportunity to exchange experience and ways to deepen the relations, thus facilitating international integration.

He also said that the presence of leaders from central agencies and foreign guests at the event was not only great support for HCM City, but also reflected the friendship and determination to work together to further promote international cooperation activities in the coming time.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son delivers his speech. Photo: VOV

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son spoke highly of the organisation of the dialogue, saying it demonstrated the city’s creativeness and its leading role in implementing external activities at the local level.

He hoped that foreign localities and HCM City will continue to unite and step up cooperation activities in all fields, making positive contributions to the development and prosperity of each country.

The minister thanked the international community, including friends of HCM City, for supporting and providing vaccines for Vietnam and HCM City in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Son said he wished that the spirit of cooperation will continue to be promoted in the post-pandemic recovery.

John Martin Cruz Nieto, vice mayor of Manila in the Philippines, said there remains a lot of potential for cooperation among localities and it would help to improve people’s daily lives.

Takebe Tsutomu, special advisor to the Japan – Vietnam Friendship Parliamentary Alliance (JVFPA), expressed hope that the dialogue would be upgraded to an international friendship forum that creates a driving force for further development whilst boosting regional peace and friendship.

Delegates also agreed to hold further exchange activities in the near future to boost mutual understanding and seek greater cooperation opportunities.

The dialogue offers a venue for participants to share experience in speeding up post-pandemic recovery, development priorities of each country in the period of economic recovery, and potential and development goals of localities through exchange activities. Photo: VOV

At the end of the dialogue, the localities agreed to further strengthen the friendship and comprehensive cooperation on the basis of mutual respect and understanding. They also set forth initiatives to enhance people-to-people exchanges and cohesion.