On Monday, the Head of the Party Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations, Mr Hoang Binh Quan, met with the Da Nang leaders to review the city’s diplomatic activities over recent years.

Mr Quan (right) and Secretary Anh

It was reported that Da Nang has gained positive results from its activities involving political, economic and cultural diplomacy.

To date, the city has established friendship and cooperation with a total of 39 localities in 19 foreign countries worldwide.  In particular, the bilateral relationships with Laos, Cambodia and China have been strengthened.  Every year, the city welcomes over 500 delegations of international guests, and representatives from the city authorities also accompany the Party and State’s leaders on their overseas trips to promote bilateral cooperative ties with foreign partners.

The city’s economic diplomacy policies have focused on attracting more FDI inflows into the city, appealing for more ODA capital for its important projects, and non-governmental aid for local social welfare activities.  The city has so far attracted 420 FDI projects with a total registered investment capital of 3.68 billion USD.

With regard to cultural diplomacy, the city authorities have made every effort to make Da Nang a city of international-level events.  The focus has been on hosting numerous international-level cultural and sporting events in order to advertise the city’s image to international friends and uphold the city’s reputation in the world arena.  In particular, the implementation of people-to-people diplomatic exchanges between the city and foreign localities has helped to enhance the spirit of solidarity with foreigners worldwide, and to encourage international opinion to give more support to Viet Nam’s righteous struggle for its sovereignty over its sea and islands.  Special attention has also been paid to encouraging Vietnamese ex-pats worldwide to make greater efforts for the city’s progress.

Municipal Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh suggested that the national government should create even more favourable conditions for the city to ensure good preparations for the 25^th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which will take place in the city in October 2017.  This international-level event will be a golden opportunity for the city leaders to meet with representatives from large groups, especially those from APEC, in order to encourage them to invest into the Da Nang Hi-tech Industrial Park.  He also proposed that the Consular Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should open a representative office in the city. 

Mr Quan highly praise the city for its remarkable achievements in its diplomatic  activities over recent years.  He stressed the need for each local resident to become an enthusiastic and friendly tourism ambassador to advertise the city’s image to international friends.   He also noted that local businesses should be pioneers in the city’s economic global integration, and that their awareness of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement should also be raised.

Also at the meeting, representatives from the Commission for External Relations presented campaign medals to municipal Party Committee Deputy Secretary Vo Cong Tri, municipal People’s Committee Chairman Huynh Duc Tho, and municipal People's Council Vice Chairman Nguyen Nho Trung for their great devotion to the Party’s external activities over recent years.  In addition, Certificates of Merit were given to the Office of the municipal Party Committee and the municipal Department of Foreign Affairs for their outstanding achievements.