Singapore (VNA) – Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party CommitteeNguyen Thien Nhan led a high-ranking delegation from the Vietnamese southernhub to visit Singapore from August 24-28, aiming to boost comprehensivecooperation with the host country’s partners.

Hosting a reception for Nhan on August 26, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee HsienLoong said his country hopes to foster comprehensive cooperative relations withHo Chi Minh City, a dynamic and innovative city with positive contributions toboth Vietnam and the region.

Lee stressed Singapore always values the ties with Vietnam as well as the city,especially when both are members of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network, saying hesupports bilateral collaboration in the fields of urban develoment andeducation and training, and asked Ho Chi Minh City and competent authorities ofSingapore to work together so as to ink several Memoranda of Understanding(MoUs) in the time ahead.

Regarding high-quality human resources training, Lee suggested the Vietnamesesouthern hub to pen early English language teaching programme for pre-schoolchildren.

Nhan, for his part, highlighted that as the leading economic hub in Vietnam, HoChi Minh City is facing a wide range of challenges, including urbaninfrastructure development lagging behind urbanisation pace and populationgrowth, and climate change.

He hoped his Singapore visit will promote cooperation opportunities, helpingthe city be well-prepared for its development plan in the next 5-10 years.

The official recommended Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore hold conferences onsustainable development of urban areas with focus on climate change issue, andshare experience in startup and innovation on a rotary basis.

Lee spoke highly of the initiative and endorsed the organisation of suchconferences and also suggested inviting many other cities in the region likeBangkok, Manila and Yangon to join the events.

The same day, Nhan had a working session with leaders of the Ministry ofEducation, during which he wished to boost education collaboration withSingapore to standardise education managers’ capacity, buildinternational-standard higher education programme, set up laboratories inartificial intelligence  (AI), IT and communications, data science,automation and finance. Besides, the city wants to work with Singapore in highereducation accreditation.

Meeting with Peter Ho, Senior Advisor at the Centre for Strategic Futures(CSF), Nhan said that Ho Chi Minh City is interested in CSF’s study abouteconomic risks, political geography, climate change, food security, diseasesand population development.

He expressed his hope that the CSF will give consultation to the city in thefields.

In a working session with the Singaporean Land Transport Authority, Nhan wishedto exchange experience in smart transport system planning, construction,operation and management, and study advanced technologies applied in transportmanagement.

Singaporean authorities agreed to promote cooperation in the fields of mutualinterest.

In the framework of the visit, Nhan had a working session with the NationalUniversity of Singapore (NUS) to learn experience on building support policiesfor startup, and discuss cooperation opportunities between the two sides in thecoming time.

On the occasion, the municipal People’s Committee also organised a round-tableconference with the Singaporean businesses, which looked to introduce thecity’s investment potential, and responding to Singaporean investors’ questionsabout local tax and land policies as well as investment climate.

At the event, many Singaporeaninvestors spoke highly of the business climate in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City,stressing they will expand operation in the Vietnamese city.

During their stay in Singapore, Nhan and the delegation visited the VietnameseEmbassy in Singapore, paid floral tribute to President Ho Chi Minh at hisstatue, and laid flower at the Asian Civilisations Museum.

They also attended the ceremony to mark 74th anniversary ofVietnamese National Day held by the Vietnamese Embassy.-VNA