Chairman of Hanoi's People Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and Ambassador of EU delegation to Vietnam Bruno Angelet. Photo: Anh Quy

The meeting was about the project World Cities in which Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city chosen to be applied. World Cities is a 700,000EUR – worth project of the European Union managed by the Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. The project originates in a Preparatory Action of the European Parliament to promote the exchange of experience and best practice between the European Union and non-EU countries on the theme of territorial development with particular reference to sustainable urban development. With those spirit and on basement of landscape and culture similarities, Milan (Italy) and Kosice (Slovakia) are chosen to “couple” with Hanoi and HCMC, respectively, to exchange experience of sustainable urban development within the project.

Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung gave souvernia gift to Ambassador Bruno Angelet

At the meeting, EU Ambassador asked about the development guidelines of Hanoi; at the same time, he expressed the hope that all the sides would list out cooperation activities to carry out World Cities program effectively, promptly.
Appraising the development achievement of Milan and Kosice, Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung expressed the hope that Hanoi would soon consult development experience of EU cities. On this occasion, he introduced Hanoi’s development journey as well as targets in the near time. The government set out three break-through phases including infrastructure improvement, human resource training and administrative reform; especially applying IT in administrative reform, said the Chairman.
The Hanoi IT managing center will be completed until year-end to contribute information on public crime preventing, public traffic managing, and administrative procedure Q&A. "Until the end of 2020, it’s our target to build the big data system for Hanoi", according to Chung.
Tax revenue from IT companies accounts for 15 percent of Hanoi’s annual GDP, becoming the key point of the city. The government also focuses on supporting start-up ecosystem in Hanoi.
The Chairman paid respect to Ambassador Bruno Angelet's support and encouragement during carrying out World Cities project. He also affirmed the desire of Hanoi to promote cooperation with Italian and Slovakian enterprises, as well as other EU ones in building a smart and green city.
Within the meeting, Italian Ambassador to Vietnam Cecilia Piccioni said,  Milan was willing to share development experience with Hanoi, especially in urban development. The sound bilateral tie between Hanoi and Milan plays sustainable background for futher collaboration.