HCM CITY — HCM City is looking to Singapore’s “smart city” experiences to develop a scheme to build creative urban areas in districts 2 and 9, a top city official said on Monday.

Speaking at a meeting with Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Nguyễn Thiện Nhân, secretary of the city’s Party Committee, said, “Singapore has always been on the cutting edge of trends, especially technology, which has been key to its success and business growth, providing a great lesson for HCM City,” he said.  

“HCM City would like to receive support from Singapore in the fields of green urban development and urban lighting systems for tourism development,” he added. “We want to become an ideal destination for Singaporean businesses to do business and stay long-term in the city.”

Nhân thanked Singapore for partnering with Việt Nam, especially in training a high-quality workforce, developing scientific research, and creating new economic areas to take advantage of 4.0 Industry trends.

Nhân said, “I’m impressed by the strong partnership in the two countries over the past years in many fields such as national defence-security, economy, trade, investment, education and training, and people-to-people exchange.”

Teo, who is also Co-ordinating Minister for Public Security, said Singapore wanted to promote a strategic partnership with Việt Nam within the framework of ASEAN and more. He said such partnerships would allow each partner to learn, share and help each other in the development process.

Teo thanked the city’s leaders for their support of Singaporean businesses working in the city and encouraged them to create favourable conditions for further business.

Singapore praised the plans that HCM City has used in the early stage of building smart urban areas, including measures to apply technology to state management.

During his visit, Teo plans to visit several investment projects operated by Singaporean businesses in the city. He has also been meeting members of the local and Singaporean business community in HCM City.

As of the end of last year, Singapore was HCM City’s largest investor with about 1,100 projects with total registered capital of more than US$10.7 billion. Singapore is the city’s second largest trading partner with two-way trade turnover of $3.7 billion last year. 

HCM City welcomed nearly 300,000 Singaporean tourists last year, a surge of 41.3 per cent compared to 2017.

During the visit to Việt Nam, Teo also met with Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc during a reception in Hà Nội on March 22.

Teo launched the Việt Nam-Singapore Co-operation Centre, and officially opened the Singapore Festival in Hà Nội and the new chancery of the Singapore Consulate-General in HCM City. — VNS