On Monday afternoon, as part of their ongoing working visit to Germany, a group of Da Nang’s leaders, led by municipal Party Committee Deputy Secretary Vo Cong Tri, paid a courtesy visit to the Vietnamese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Germany, Mr Doan Xuan Hung.

Deputy Secretary Tri briefed the Vietnamese diplomat on his city’s progress over recent years and its orientations for making more socio-economic breakthroughs over the 2015 - 2020 period.

Vice Chairman Dung (left) and Mr Sami Bettaieb

Ambassador Hung applauded Da Nang for its rapid development, especially the great efforts made by the city leaders for the city’s progress over recent years.  He suggested that the city should appeal for more investment from Germany, especially into precision engineering, medical equipment manufacture, information technology, logistics and other aspects in which Germany has great potential and strengths.

He also vowed that he would work closely with the city authorities to appeal for more German investment to match the city’s development orientations in the years ahead.

On the same day, the Da Nang guests met with representatives from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Berlin (CCI Berlin) to discuss effective ways to establish and enhance bilateral cooperation between Da Nang and the German organisation, and Berlin as a whole.

CCI Berlin, the biggest chamber of commerce and industry in Germany, now has 275,000 member companies involved in all aspects.  This organisation is a mouthpiece for many companies, actively promoting Berlin as a place to do business.

Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Dang Viet Dung emphasised that Germany is one of Viet Nam’s key European trading partners, and that his city is now appealing for more German businesses to invest into the city’s Hi-tech Industrial Park.  He also highly praised Berlin’s remarkable development over recent years, especially its valuable experiences in developing strategic economic models and business start-up programmes.

The city leader also said that he would like CCI Berlin to work jointly with the Da Nang Investment Promotion Centre to organise more trade and investment promotions with a focus on facilitating more German businesses to seek investment opportunities in his city.  More opportunities should be created for delegations from Da Nang to visit Berlin’s typical hi-tech parks and learn from its experience in business start-up programmes.

In reply, Mr Sami Bettaieb from the International Affairs team of CCI Berlin, remarked that Berlin and Da Nang share many similarities as they both aim to develop into smart and liveable cities.  He vowed that he would do his utmost to help Da Nang enhance trade and investment promotion activities in order to attract more German businesses in the years ahead, and that his city is willing to share its experiences in business start-up programmes.