Speaking at the conference, themed “Developing smart cities in Vietnam towards green and sustainable growth”, Dutch Ambassador to Vietnam Nienke Trooster said that a smart city will experience significant changes, like the shift from fossil energy to renewable energy and self-driving cars. 

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At the signing ceremony for a letter of intent

She also emphasized that cities need to be adapted to short-term challenges, such as flooding and that smart cities are a good model in urban development planning in order to improve adaptation ability to changes and developments in the future.

At the event, delegates exchanged experiences in developing smart cities and other related lessons.

In the framework of the conference, a letter of intent was signed between the Urban Development Administration of Vietnam and the Partnership Group on Smart Cities of the Netherlands with the aim of creating prerequisites for further cooperation between Vietnam and the Netherlands in development of smart cities.

Up to 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050, placing a burden on infrastructure, land and housing funds. Therefore, building relations between local residents and the authorities are useful to developing a smart city eco-system.

With a population of 90 million people, Vietnam needs a long-term smart plan in developing such cities, so that the country could keep the economic growth stable while being able to cope with future challenges, creating growth space, securing jobs for locals and providing necessary skills for laborers.

Translated by Chung Anh