Singapore (VNA) – Singapore hopes to fostercomprehensive cooperative relations with Ho Chi Minh City, a proactive and innovativecity with positive contributions to both Vietnam and the region, SingaporeanPrime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on August 26.

Receiving Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan on theday, Lee stressed Singapore always values the ties with Vietnam as well as HoChi Minh City, especially when both are members of the ASEAN Smart CitiesNetwork.

He said he supports bilateral collaboration in the fields of urban develoment andeducation and training, and asked Ho Chi Minh City and competent authorities ofSingapore to work together so as to ink several Memoranda of Understanding(MoUs) in the time ahead.

Regarding high-quality human resources training, Lee suggested the Vietnamesesouthern hub to pen early English language teaching programme for pre-schoolchildren.

Nhan, for his part, highlighted that as a leading economic hub in Vietnam, HoChi Minh City is facing a wide range of challenges, including urbaninfrastructure development lagging behind urbanisation pace and populationgrowth, and climate change.

He expected his Singapore visit will promote cooperation opportunities, helpingthe city be well-prepared for its development plan in the next 5-10 years.

The official recommended Ho Chi Minh City and Singapore ASEAN hold conferenceson sustainable development of urban areas with focus on climate change issue,and share experience in startup and innovation on a rotary basis.

Lee spoke highly of the initiative and endorsed the organisation of suchconferences and also suggested inviting many other cities in the region likeBangkok (Thailand), Manila (the Philippines), and Yangon (Myanmar) to join theevents.

The same day, Nhan had a working session with leaders of the Ministry ofEducation, during which he wished to boost education collaboration withSingapore to standardise education managers’ capacity, buildinternational-standard higher education programme, set up laboratories inartificial intelligence  (AI), IT andcommunications, data science, automation and finance. Besides, the city wantsto work with Singapore in higher education accreditation.

Meeting with Peter Ho, Senior Advisor at the Centre for Strategic Futures(CSF), Nhan said that Ho Chi Minh City is interested in CSF’s study abouteconomic risks, political geography, climate change, food security, diseasesand population development.

He expressed his hope that the CSF will give consultation to the city in thefields.

In a working session with the Singaporean Land Transport Authority, Nhan wishedto exchange experience in smart transport system planning, construction,operation and management, and study advanced technologies applied in transportmanagement.

Singaporean authorities agreed to promote cooperation in the fields of mutualinterest.-VNA