Vietnam promotes cooperation with Belgian locality

VOV.VN - Vietnam wishes to explore opportunities and strengthen cooperation with Belgium’s Antwerp province in potential fields such as seaports, renewable energy, climate change adaptation and education.

Nguyen Van Thao, Vietnamese ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, was speaking during his meeting with leaders of Antwerp on November 22.

Thao said Vietnam would like to learn from Antwerp’s smart city model experience to develop its cities and connect with the Belgian locality in the future. Currently, three Vietnamese cities namely Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang have joined the ASEAN Smart Cities Network.

Vietnam is one of the developing countries that shows a strong commitment to tackling climate change challenges. Therefore, it has a huge demand for various renewable energy sources such as offshore wind power and hydrogen fuel to achieve the sustainable development goals, stressed the ambassador.

Currently, DEME of the Flemish region is investing US$3 billion in an offshore wind power project in Vietnam’s Binh Thuan province. This will be the first offshore wind farm in Vietnam with a capacity of 1,000 MW, said the diplomat.

For his part, Antwerp Governor Cathy Berx affirmed that the localities of Vietnam and Belgium have many development cooperation opportunities, especially in areas such as smart cities, green urban construction and sustainable development, referring to the results of her visit to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City of Vietnam in 2019.

Berx highly appreciated the quality of Vietnam’s human resources, and suggested that the two sides create favourable conditions for their businesses to increase cooperation amid the complicated developments of the COVID-19 pandemic that has caused supply chain disruptions.

At a working session with leaders of the Port of Antwerp, Ambassador Thao spoke highly of the port’s role in Europe and expected the port would help facilitate Vietnamese exports to Europe to make the most of the European Union – Vietnam free trade agreement (EVFTA).

He expressed his wish that the Port of Antwerp would continue to maintain training projects within the framework of the APEC Antwerp Franders Port Training Center programme for Vietnamese ports.

Kristof Watershoot, managing director of the port, said the port is willing to share experience and promote cooperation projects in Vietnam in the fields of seaport infrastructure development and human resource training.

The Port of Antwerp wishes to welcome Vietnamese delegations to visit, work and exchange experiences, he said.

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