WASHINGTON DC — A delegation from Hà Nội led by Nguyễn Ngọc Tuấn, Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the city People’s Council, paid a visit to Washington D.C. to seek stronger partnership with the capital city in the United States.

The delegation had working sessions with Kimberly Bassett, Secretary of the District of Columbia, and Ben de Guzman, Director of the Mayor's Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs in Washington DC, and various agencies in the city.

At the working sessions, Tuấn highlighted that as the political and administrative centres of the two countries, the two capital cities will make important contributions to the strengthening of cooperation and friendship between the two countries.

The two cities should implement more external relations activities as well as meetings and delegation exchanges, while conducting investment, trade and tourism promotion activities, and increasing cultural and people-to-people exchange activities, including the Hà Nội Days in Washington DC.

Bassett suggested that the two capital cities continue to bolster their partnership, adding that in the time to come, they should discuss and sign a cooperation agreement. The two sides should set up a shared information channel and assigned their external affair agencies on the building of the agreement.

The official affirmed that the administration of Washington DC will create favourable conditions for businesses from Hà Nội to conduct trade and import-export activities and assist US firms to invest in Hà Nội.

The two sides also briefed each other on the socioeconomic situation of the two cities, and shared experience in organising the administrative apparatus, the mechanism to supervise public agencies, as well as the decentralisation of socioeconomic management. They also discussed the planning and management of urban infrastructure system and the building of smart cities, tourism development, and social welfare policies.

During their stay, the delegation visited the Vietnamese Embassy, Tuấn thanked the embassy and the Vietnamese ambassador for their coordination, and proposed that the embassy continue to help promote of the image of Hà Nội to international friends, and strengthen the friendship between Hà Nội and US localities. He also asked for the embassy’s support in increasing investment promotion and cooperation with the US side in all fields. — VNS