Senior officials of Ho Chi Minh City and Germany said that the two sides have a lot of potential for cooperation in many fields.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan and Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel made the statement during their meeting in the city on November 20.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan (right) and Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Sigmar Gabriel.

Gabriel is leading a German high-ranking delegation from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy to Vietnam to attend the Asia-Pacific Conference of German Business (APK) held in the city.

The city’s official spoke highly of fruitful cooperation in health care and education between the two sides. In particular, Vietnam-Germany University and Vietnam-Germany international school were established in the city while Pham Ngoc Thach Medicine-Pharmaceutical University is cooperating in medical research and training with a number of Germany institutes.

Germany is currently the city’s largest trade partner in Europe with 102 valid projects worth 220 million USD.

The two-way trade between Ho Chi Minh City and Germany recorded 1.6 billion USD in 2013. The figure is expected to reach 2 billion USD for this year.

For his part, the Germany Vice Chancellor expressed his thanks for the city’s welcome, especially the support for the conference, saying the meeting is Germany’s largest economic event held abroad.

The meeting in Ho Chi Minh City will open up opportunities for cooperation between German businesses and its partners in Vietnam, including the city, he added.

Germany is running a number of major projects in the city, such as the Metro Line 2 linking Ben Thanh and Suoi Tien with a total length of 19km.

He informed that the visit is to introduce German small- and medium-sized enterprises, saying they are keen on the city. He said he hopes that city will facilitate the businesses to seek partners and do business in the city.

Source: VNA