Secretary and Chairman Receive New Zealand Ambassador

On the afternoon of Monday, 24^th June 2019, Member of the Central Party Committee, Secretary of Can Tho Municipal Party Committee Tran Quoc Trung and Chairman of the People's Committee Le Quang Manh hosted separate receptions for New Zealand Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary to Vietnam – H.E. Wendy Matthews.

Secretary of Can Tho Municipal Party Committee Tran Quoc Trung received NZ Ambassador to Vietnam Wendy Matthews (photo: T.Truc)

While receiving the Ambassador, Secretary Tran Quoc Trung and Chairman Le Quang Manh said that Vietnam in general and Can Tho City in particular always valued the good comprehensive partnership with New Zealand, which was decided by leaders of both countries to be upgraded to strategic  partnership in the future; and that they wanted to contribute to enhancing and tightening this relationship in collaboration with New Zealand Embassy in Hanoi.

Chairman Le Quang Manh awarded souvenirs to Ambassador Wendy Matthews at the end of the courtesy call (photo: T.Truc)

Both briefed the Ambassador information about Can Tho City, its achievements in socio-economic development, vital roles in the Mekong Delta region, opportunities and challenges in the next 05 years.

They provided the Ambassador an overview on the city's cooperation status with New Zealand with strong foci on education, bilateral trade, agriculture and investment opportunities.

The Secretary asked the Ambassador to support and assist Can Tho in introducing a city/ locality from New Zealand sharing similarities with Can Tho City for MOU signing to set up a collaborative relationship. The Chairman suggested a new form of cooperation between Can Tho universities and New Zealand counterparts under a joint venture and requested New Zealand's support and consultation to help the city products to enter its market.

They then expected to receive New Zealand government's supports in scholarships granted to lecturers and students from Can Tho City to study in New Zealand for capacity building in improvement of its HR.

The Ambassador, for her part, expressed the happiness in the development of the cooperation between 02 countries in bilateral trade (which increased at 17% higher than that of the same period in 2018), education, politics and defense.

She congratulated the leaders for the city impressive growth in socio-economic development and also agreed with them to further boost the cooperation of both sides in the suggested areas, particularly in education and agriculture.

Based on the information shared by both leaders on their perspectives on smart city; opportunities and challenges in the future, the Ambassador expressed an interest in expanding cooperation with Can Tho City in sharing New Zealand experience and expertise in e-government and climate change confrontation.