The HCM City Friendship Dialogue (FD) and the HCM City Economic Forum (HEF) provide not only a framework for enhancing the southern economic hub’s friendship with foreign localities but also a chance to share and discuss experiences, orientations, and solutions to promote cooperation so as to boost sustainable development and relations with foreign partners, Tran Phuoc Anh, Director of the municipal Department of External Affairs, told a press conference on July 18.

A highlight of the second FD, slated for September 23 - 24, is a conference of mayors which will gather central and local officials, along with representatives of the 58 localities having friendship and cooperative ties with HCM City from such countries as Germany, the US, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, China, Canada, and Finland.

Participants will discuss their localities’ advantages, priorities, and international cooperation potential while proposing locality-to-locality cooperation initiatives to step up industrial transformation to serve sustainable development, Anh noted.

Representing the organising board, Chairman of the HCM City Business Association Nguyen Ngoc Hoa said the fifth HEF from September 24 to 27 aims to share experiences and collect opinions from domestic and international financial institutions, enterprises, and experts about the city’s socio-economic development, targets, and key programmes, thereby helping promote Vietnam and HCM City’s reputation in the world.

The forum is expected to be attended by the Prime Minister, officials of Vietnamese ministries and sectors, along with 1,200 - 1,500 delegates from international financial institutions such as the World Bank (WB), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Asian Development Bank (ADB), international organisations like the World Economic Forum (WEF), Vietnamese and foreign localities, diplomatic agencies, and businesses. It will also attract many experts in economy, technology, industrial transition, and sustainable development.

He added the HEF 2024 will focus on such issues as main industrial transformation trends in the world, the governance ecosystem and policies for boosting industrial transformation, HCM City’s industrial transformation strategy and new technology trends, and the role of the city’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in industrial transformation.

As part of the forum, HCM City is scheduled to inaugurate the C4IR on September 25.

VOV