CẦN THƠ — Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Cần Thơ Trương Quang Hoài Nam pledged to provide all possible support for Singaporean firms to do business in the Mekong Delta city, during a Singapore-Cần Thơ trade and investment promotion seminar on Wednesday. 

With 12 Singaporean and 20 Cần Thơ enterprises taking part, the event was initiated by the Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore under the auspices of the Singapore Business Association, the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI), and Enterprises Singapore. 

Nam said Cần Thơ was set to become an industrial, commercial, service, financial, healthcare, agriculture and education training hub in the Mekong Delta. 

He said he hoped the city would establish strategic ties with Singaporean partners, and that they would share their experience and technological advances for mutual development. 

Honorary Secretary and Chairman of the SMCCI’s Internationalisation Committee Dainial Sani Lim said that Singapore wanted to lift bilateral ties by extending trade and investment links, as well as developing projects in major Vietnamese cities and provinces, especially in the south. 

He said Cần Thơ boasted a strong workforce and convenient transport infrastructure in terms of roads, waterways and airports, serving as a gateway for the Lower Mekong and an important hub for inter-regional transportation.

Lim expressed his hope that the event would afford Cần Thơ and Singaporean enterprises a chance to share experience and transfer technology, thereby improving service quality and promoting trade. 

Ding Khoon Yew,  vice chairman of Sembcorp Development Ltd., which has invested in seven Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks – expressed his wish to expand investment in real estate, energy and trade in Cần Thơ. 

He said Sembcorp planned to build wind, thermal and solar power plants to make Cần Thơ the first locality in the southwest to use renewable energy, adding that it would also build more public works using advanced technology, especially in water and wastewater treatment; develop high-tech industrial areas; and partner with Cần Thơ in smart urban development. 

Yang Sook Chin, director of Verve Consultancy, said it would help Cần Thơ companies access markets and call for capital, and wished to connect with Vietnamese law consulting offices to help Singaporean firms invest in the city. — VNS