HCM City and the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Hậu Giang will continue to enhance co-operation in the 2016-20 period, leaders said at a meeting held on Wednesday in the city. — Photo congan.com.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City and the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Hậu Giang will continue to enhance co-operation in the 2016-20 period, leaders said at a meeting held on Wednesday in the city.

The meeting, which reviewed the past 10 years of work between the two parties, focused on the positive results achieved and the new tasks ahead.

Speaking at the meeting, Nguyễn Thành Phong, chairman of the municipal People’s Committee, said the two sides would continue to work in high-tech agriculture; industry and trade; planning, investment and foreign affairs; and culture, sport and tourism.

They will also co-operate in administrative reform, science and technology, and human resource training, as well as environmental protection, urban management, and medical and social welfare.

The two sides will co-operate in providing high-quality seedlings and animal strains, building new rural area models and agricultural production models associated with the transfer of advanced technologies to gradually shift their agriculture to high-tech.

Leaders of the two sides also agreed to step up co-operation in implementing an e-Government programme and IT application and development.

Co-operation in research on urban pollution, transfer of clean technologies, and waste treatment technologies at factories and hospitals will also be encouraged.

Building concentrated waste treatment areas will be included in the co-operation programme.

The programmes between the two localities in the past 10 years have achieved significant results, especially in the fields of human resource training, technology transfer, calls for investment, and cultural exchange and tourism promotion.

According to a report of the municipal People’s Committee, 13 large companies and 300 small- and medium-sized companies have invested more than VNĐ2.5 trillion (US$112.1 million) in the province.

In addition, many trade co-operation programmes have been organised to promote sales of the province’s key products in HCM City.

Their co-operation in social welfare in the past had helped more than 202 poor people receive free cardiac surgeries, with more than 435 disadvantaged children receiving scholarships and others.

Trần Công Chánh, secretary of the Hậu Giang Province’s Party Committee, said the province continued to need support in building medical facilities and schools and promoting sales of its agricultural products.

Đinh La Thăng, the secretary of the municipal Party Committee, said the city would direct departments and industries to step up co-operation, especially in creating safe farm produce sources to supply to the HCM City market.

In turn, the city would call on HCM City businesses to invest in building schools and hospitals in the province, and offer managerial support for a hi-tech agriculture park, as well as management training and technology application in the agricultural sector, he said.

Each locality should continue to develop products of its own strength as well as adopt appropriate policies to lure more investment, he said.

Inter-regional connections in all sectors, including transport, electricity, water, market and technology should be strengthened to create momentum for the development of the southern economic region, he said. —VNS