Hanoi expected officials from the Australian state of New South Wales to share their experience in developing a creative city and organizing major events to attract visitors. 

Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong leads the Hanoi delegation to work with New South Wales officials. Photo: VNA

Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Van Phong told local authorities when he led a delegation to visit New South Wales on October 11-15 for further cooperation. 

The request was made as he worked with Sydney's officials, expressing his impression of the city's achievements.

Creativity is at the core of Hanoi's multi-layered culture. In order to recognize its young population, craft legacy, and the advancement of technology, the city is adopting a new economic and urban development model driven by creative design.

In talks with Phong, Katie Knight, CEO of Investment NSW, said it's a good time for Hanoi and New South Wales to work together in the context of the Australian Government's Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, which sees the region as the world's fourth largest economy and offers opportunities for Australian businesses in a variety of sectors, from green energy to infrastructure and healthcare.

The establishment of New South Wales's representative office in Vietnam indicated the state's strategy in cooperating with Vietnam's localities and businesses and Hanoi's in particular.

In addition to building a creative city, Hanoi worked with local authorities for cooperation in education – the field in which the city has been seeking foreign expertise.

For that reason, destinations on the list of the delegation's trip include Macquarie University – a public research university based in Sydney, RMIT University (the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) – a public research university in Melbourne, and Chisholm Institute – a government-owned Technical and Further Education Institute in Melbourne.

During the working sessions, Phong expressed his vision for expanding the city's education system, focusing on digital transformation and access to advanced education from regional and international countries.

Hanoi requested proposals from partners detailing particular collaboration in official city training, including the expansion of cooperative training initiatives between the institutions in the two cities. 

Phong expressed his admiration for the accomplishments of the state of New South Wales, which he described as the economic, financial, and service hub of Australia. New South Wales is a developed city with numerous strengths in innovation, education, tourism, digital transformation, culture, and the arts.

He revealed that Hanoi is undergoing a period of rapid innovation and desires to further its collaboration with New South Wales.

During the discussion, the leaders of both sides agreed to boost business visits and delegation exchanges and strengthen ties between investors and universities of New South Wales and Hanoi to investigate potential investment prospects.

Specifically, the two parties encourage collaboration in education by organizing English courses and Australian cultural events in Hanoi and short-term training programs for Hanoi's officials in Australia.

Meanwhile, the two sides facilitate the implementation of educational initiatives by Australian investors and assist Hanoi schools in collaborating with Australian partners, especially in the English teaching program.

The two parties agreed that fostering educational cooperation is a sound basis for development cooperation between the two localities.

Hanoi is among UNESCO's Creative City Network. Source: UNESCO