Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan (R) and Deputy Mayor of Tampere city Ilkka Sasi (Photo: sggp.org.vn) HCM City (VNA) – Vice Chairman ofthe Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Vo Van Hoan hosted a reception onOctober 11 for visiting Deputy Mayor of Tampere city of Finland Ilkka Sasi,saying that thecity is aiming to build a smart city and a regional innovation andcreativity hub, with a focus on digital economy and green growth.
Speakinghighly of Finland’s education potential and strengths, Hoan hailed thepositive results of education cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and theEuropean country through various joint projects among schools. He expressed his belief thatthese cooperation models could be spread in the future.
In informationtechnology (IT), he briefed the guest on the Quang Trung Software Park andthe Saigon Hi-Tech Park, which are attracting hundreds of leading technologycompanies globally. He stressed that along with favourable policies for foreigninvestors, these conditions provide a great opportunity for Finnish firms toinvest in IT, chip production and artificial intelligence (AI).
Sasi said his visit aims to expand education and vocational trainingcooperation programmes, seek opportunities to step up investment in AI andsmart urban development.
Introducing Tampere, the third largest city of the Netherlands with a population of400,000 people, Sasi said Tampere is also focusing on developing IT. He believedthat cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and Tampere in this field will benefit both sides in their development efforts.
On theback of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), the two countries as well as Tampere and Ho Chi Minh City arewell-positioned to further nurture their trade and investment ties./.
