The Office of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City and the Consulate General of the UK in the city on January 3 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the implementation of the future global city program for 2019-2022 with the aim of building HCM City into a smart city.
Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen and UK Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field were among the guests at the signing ceremony.
Under the MoU, the two sides will collaborate in carrying out a project to apply smart tickets in public transportation vehicles in the city and develop a geographical information system for the drainage network.
At a meeting with the UK official prior to the signing, Tuyen thanked the UK Consulate General in the city for enhancing the partnership between the city and the UK, particularly cooperation programmes supported by the UK’s Commonwealth Fund.
The city is also implementing technological solution packages to deal with urgent matters in transport, health care, and urban environment Tuyen said, expressing his desire to learn from the UK’s experience in the realms.
He also asked Field help encourage UK universities to boost their closer cooperation with their peers in the city and increase scholarships for students from Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City in particular.
In reply, Field reaffirmed his nation’s wish to augment cooperation with Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City, especially in trade, investment and people-to-people exchange.
He also congratulating the city on finishing the first phase of the smart city project while assuring that the UK will continue to work with the city in the field, especially in technological solutions for flooding response and smart urban transportation.
He expressed his hope that HCM City will offer the best possible conditions for the British Business Group in Vietnam to set up a centre to support small- and medium-sized enterprises and UK startups to land investments in the city.
VOV
