Can Tho Boosted Cooperation with US Partners

During the trip to the United States  of America from September 09^th to September 18^th, 2017, Can Tho delegation led by Mr. Tran Quoc Trung, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee attended a Technology and Business Conference – Connecting Can Tho with Virginia and Maryland, held in Washington D.C. on September 13^th, 2017.

Spoken at the event, H.E. Pham Quang Vinh, Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States of America emphasized that the cooperation between Vietnam and US had been strongly promoted since the date the two countries decided to normalize their relationship. Such decision has placed a solid foundation not only for governments but also for private stakeholders of both sides to enhance their partnership in various fields. However, in order to make such relationship to be sustainable, it requires  a great deal of efforts both from public and private sectors, in which roles of local authorities are more emphasized.

Can Tho delegation participated the conference with US enterprises from Virginia and Maryland states, Washington D.C.

In following H.E. Pham Quang Vinh, Mr. Tran Quoc Trung, in his speech, remarked that the promotion of the cooperation with and investment from US partners was one of the city top priorities. At current, although US is ranked the 5^th among countries and territories investing in Can Tho city, the bilateral trading turnovers were remarkably humble, at approximately 136.1 and 2.3 million USD for export and import, respectively. Moreover, exporting and importing products were simply focused on rice, fishery, handicraft, steel, pharmaceutical materials, chemicals etc. Therefore, Mr. Trung expressed his expectations to free discussions with the US side to make them understand more about the city policies and incentives to encourage US investment into its prioritized projects in agriculture and technology.

In his strong support to Mr. Trung's expectation, Mr. Basil Gooden – Secretary of Agriculture, stated that he has had several visits to Vietnam which brought him chances to work and discuss with Vietnamese partners in the North and South of the country. "Thanks to the visits, I understand more about Vietnam's potentials and opportunities for further development of mutual cooperation.  I, therefore, appreciate your presence at our premises and look forward to our future's cooperation possibilities in high-tech agriculture", added Mr. Gooden.

The conference ended with MOU signing ceremonies between Can Tho city and US companies in IT; food safety and high-tech aquaculture with an intention for cooperation and information exchange to promote joint development of science and technologies and a data center in both localities.

MOU signing between Can Tho Department of Science and Technology and USASIA LINKS (above); Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (under)

MOU signing between Can Tho Department of Information and Communications and USASIA LINKS