Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committtee Nguyen Thanh Phong yesterday talked with ambassador delegation of European Union (EU) countries in Vietnam led by Ambassador Bruno Angelet, Head of EU delegation in Vietnam.
At the reception, the city leader said that Ho Chi Minh City had total 1,081 valid projects from EU investors with capital of US$ 3.95.
In the first five months of the year, the city granted newly investment registration certificates for 41 projects form Europe with a total capital of US$ 26.82 million.
Chairman Phong proposed EU partners would continue supporting and cooperate with the locality in the field of urban infrastructure development, especially investing construction projects of urban railway system and Ben Thanh underground shopping center.
With the metro line project No. 2, Ho Chi Minh City proposed to the European Commission (through the German Development Bank - KfW) to extend receiving time for aids to conduct feasibility studies for the projects as well as adjust some contents of the aid clauses to better suit the implementation schedule and the regulations of Vietnamese law.
Besides that, he underlined the European Union − Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) has a special meaning for Vietnam.
Particularly, in order to adopt pledges of EVFTA, Ho Chi Minh City will focus on reviewing policies, regulations to ensure compliance with the agreement, speeding up reform of the administrative apparatus and human resources to meet demand of international integration.
The city leader also pledged to create more favorable business conditions for enterprises.
According to ambassador Bruno Angelet, EU highly appreciated and supported the process of international economic integration of Vietnam. He also says that EVFTA is in the process of completing the approval to come to the official signing in the coming time.
In addition to discussing trade and investment cooperation, leaders of the Municipal People's Committee and ambassadors of EU countries also agreed to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, education and people exchange in order to maintain and strengthening the good cooperation between Vietnam and EU in the coming time.
