Within the framework of a business trip to Australia, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai met with more than 150 New South Wales businesses at the ‘Business round table between Ho Chi Minh City and New South Wales of Australia’ and met with large Australian businesses that want to learn about the investment environment in HCMC and invest in the city.
A representative of Rudder Group expressed his desire to coordinate with Ho Chi Minh City in developing social housing, science-technology and higher education and training. Meanwhile, a representative of StB Capital Partners (StBCP), specializing in supporting innovative companies to promote the energy transition process, said that the company wanted to coordinate with Ho Chi Minh City in the fields of rooftop solar power and renewable energy, fast charging stations and electric vehicles to reduce environmental pollution.
Talking with Australian business persons, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai informed that the southern metropolis wants to cooperate with businesses in four fields specifically science and technology, smart transportation, health, and education. The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee invited businesses to invest in high-quality schools, high-quality medical facilities, artificial intelligence and data centers.
Chairman Phan Van Mai affirmed that some areas will have priority for businesses through specific policies in the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 while the city gives most support to businesses in other areas.
In addition, he revealed that Ho Chi Minh City is currently studying policies to develop rooftop solar power so that every household, factory, and office can use clean energy. Ho Chi Minh City will also convert transportation in the orientation towards green transportation; first of all, buses and 9 million motorbikes will use clean energy. This is a great potential field for Ho Chi Minh City to cooperate with businesses.
Representatives of more than 150 businesses in Australia’s New South Wales state said that they wanted to learn about investment opportunities in Ho Chi Minh City and the city's preferential policies. Chairman Phan Van Mai introduced new emerging fields that the city is very interested in, which are science and technology cooperation, innovation, digital transformation and green growth.
Upon the question about preferential policies, Chairman Mai said that the city has many special mechanisms based on the National Assembly’s Resolution No. 98/2023/QH15 to attract strategic investors for the development of science and technology, and innovation. He affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City will be a pioneer in the above-mention fields; therefore, it hoped to cooperate with Australian businesses in implementing them.
The chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee invited investors to learn about business investment opportunities in the city. At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City commits to constantly improving the investment environment and solving procedural issues. He affirmed that the success of enterprises will contribute to the development of Ho Chi Minh City.
Within the framework of the working visit to Sydney, Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Phan Van Mai attended a cultural and artistic program introducing Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City tourism. The program is a part of the Vietnam Tourism Promotion Week- Ho Chi Minh City in Australia.
The program attracted a large number of people in New South Wales who can experience Vietnam’s traditional culture and arts such as toy making, conical hat painting, and ao dai painting.
Performances of Vietnamese ao dai, cultural and artistic exchanges, and traditional musical instruments were displayed in the program. The staff of more than 25 business booths were introducing destinations and tours in Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City, air ticket incentives and travel services.
Speaking at the program, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Phan Van Mai said that the Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City tourism promotion program in Australia is the first and largest tourism and cultural promotion event of Ho Chi Minh City in 2024. It is even more special when the event was held in the context of Vietnam - Australia relations having just been upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in March 2024.
Therefore, he stressed that the program is not simply the largest cultural and tourism promotion activity of Ho Chi Minh City in Australia in 2024, but also demonstrates the desire of the government and people of Ho Chi Minh City to develop cooperative relations with Australia, including the state of New South Wales.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ figures shows that Vietnam has appeared in the top 10 destinations for people in this country after the first nine months of 2023. A report by the online flight booking platform Skyscanner in early November, 2023 shows that Ho Chi Minh City is in the top 10 most sought-after destinations for Australian tourists, with a growth rate of 246 percent in the past year. Skyscanner also forecasts that Ho Chi Minh City will be one of the top destinations for Australian tourists by 2024.
