A conference was held in HCM City on October 2 to discuss the city’s co-operation with nine northern and north-central provinces. Photo chinhphu.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City will work closely with nine northern and north-central provinces to organise activities related to trade facilitation, workforce training and tackling climate change, according to a conference on Wednesday.

The HCM City Investment and Trade Promotion Centre (ITPC) organised a conference to review the socio-economic development co-operation between HCM City and nine northern and north-central provinces in 2023-24.

The co-operation agreement between HCM City and Bắc Kạn, Cao Bằng, Hà Nam, Hà Tĩnh, Nghệ An, Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, Thanh Hóa and Thừa Thiên – Huế was signed on March 2023. Since then, HCM City departments have worked closely with them in many areas, especially investment, commerce, tourism and health.

Many conferences, fairs, and trade facilitation events have been organised, providing promotional and networking opportunities for businesses. For example, last year, the city organised three region-level cooperation activities, according to Đào Minh Chánh, deputy director of ITPC. 

These include the HCM City International Trade Expo; an exhibition for traditional craft villages and products; and a trade facilitation event, all of which featured hundreds of businesses, including ones from northern and north-central provinces.

Meanwhile, for the first nine months of 2024, the city held a training session for provincial officials to improve their skills in investment, trade facilitation and assisting businesses; the 2024 HCM City International Trade Expo, an exhibition for high-tech agriculture and seeds, and other trade facilitation events.

Each of the nine northern and north-central provinces also has their own co-operation and investment activities with HCM City, and at the conference they commended the effectiveness of those activities, especially high value investment projects from HCM City businesses and programmes to promote One Commune One Product (OCOP) goods.

A booth promoting Quảng Trị’s products at the conference. Photo sggp.org.vn

​However, there were several limitations, such as some co-operation activities have not achieved all of their expected results, and many small to medium sized businesses are not yet motivated to partake in these activities.

The devastating Typhoon Yagi has also hindered survey and trade facilitation activities in northern Việt Nam.

For 2024-25, all localities will continue to work together on a wide range of planned activities, and HCM City will act as a bridge to ensure that cooperation activities are carried out effectively.   

The provinces also made several proposals to HCM City, such as Cao Bằng Province hoped that the city would organise more events to help promote Cao Bằng goods to southern localities, and train local officials in the fields of health, tourism and start-ups.

Quảng Trị Province wants HCM City to share experiences in developing industrial parks and economic zones, as well as call investors to its industrial parks, the South East Economic Zone, and the Lao Bảo Special Economic – Commercial Area.

Meanwhile, Hà Tĩnh Province is calling for investment into prioritised areas such as the steel industry, logistics, seaports, sea tourism and organic farming, as well as developing the infrastructure of its economic zones.

Trần Thị Diệu Thúy, deputy chairwoman of the city People’s Committee, said that over the past few years, HCM City and nine northern and north-central provinces have implemented many cooperation programmes, fostering the development of many fields.   

HCM City will focus more on trade and investment facilitation events and showrooms to promote the provinces’ goods in HCM City, while also expanding supply chains of goods, and promoting the provinces’ tourism on the HCM City International Trade Expo’s website.

It will also push for co-operation on tackling climate change, digital transformation, circular economy, workforce training and other areas.

As part of the conference, localities promoted their regional specialties.  VNS