At the receiving ceremony, Chairman of the HCMC People’s Committee Phan Van Mai affirmed that the southern metropolis always treasures cooperation with German localities, and supports and creates favorable conditions for German businesses to operate in the city.
He wanted to strengthen cooperation with Germany in the fields of investment, trade, science and technology, education and training, and hoped German President Frank-Walter Steinmeie would continuously encourage German enterprises to expand cooperation and investment in HCMC.
For his part, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier highly appreciated the development of HCMC, contributing to the comprehensive development of Vietnam.
After the host reception, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his spouse attended a number of activities, including a roundtable meeting with German businesses, a visit to the Vietnamese-German University in Binh Duong Province, and then left the city in the evening on the same day.
This is the first foreign visit of the German President in 2024 and the first high-level delegation exchange between the two countries this year - a pivotal year towards the 50th founding anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations in 2025.
HCM is currently the leading locality in the country in implementing cooperative activities with the Federal Republic of Germany. Trade turnover between HCMC and Germany reached US$2 billion in 2022. Germany currently has 242 investment projects worth a total capital of US$370 million in HCMC, ranking 14th out of the 120 countries and territories investing in the city.
In recent years, HCMC has welcomed delegations of leaders of the government and businesses from many German localities to learn about cooperation potentials, showing interest and efforts in promoting cooperative relations at the local level in particular and Vietnam-Germany relations in general.
