A photo of the meeting (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee NguyenThanh Phong on November 29 held talks with Ivan Scalfarotto, Italian DeputyMinister of Economic Development who is leading a business delegation on avisit to the city.
The leader of HCMCity hailed the thriving cooperation between the city and Italy, notably withthe city of Turin.
HCM City isstriving to build itself into a centre of economy, finance, trade and science-technologyin the region, Phong said. To realise the target, the city strongly needs foreigninvestment, especially in four major industries of food processing,chemical-rubber, mechanics and electronic-information technology.
The official vowedto create favourable climate and ensure legitimate rights and interests forItalian investors in HCM City.
Lauding the dynamismof HCM City and its role in Vietnam’s economic development, Scalfarotto saidthat Italian firms are willing to work with HCM City in various fields,including mechanical engineering, green energy and traffic infrastructure.
He stressed that theItalian Government is also ready to support Italian firms’ partnership with HCMCity to develop small- and medium-sized enterprises, along with helping thecity improve product quality in the industries of textile, leather shoes andwooden furniture as they are Italy’s strong points.
At the meeting, AlessandroDecio, CEO of Italy Export Credit Agency said the fund will earmark 250 millionEUR for Italian firms that want to operate in Vietnam’s oil and gas industry,and another 400 million EUR for those which wish to invest in mechanicalengineering, metal products and related fields.
The fund is alsowilling to provide support for Vietnamese businesses to buy machinery andtechnology from Italy, he said.
Italian businessesexpressed their interest in projects in HCM City in textile, architecture,smart urban building and traffic infrastructure.
Two-way trade ofHCM City and Italy hit 600 million USD in 2016 and 510 million USD in the first10 months of 2017. As of October 31, there were 28 Italian-funded projects inHCM City with total capital of about 70 million USD.-VNA
