During his meeting on Monday with Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Dang Viet Dung, the new Australian Ambassador to Viet Nam, Mr Craig Chittick OAM, said that he was very impressed by the city’s rapid growth over recent years. 

New Australian Ambassador Chittick OAM (left) and Vice Chairman Dung

The diplomat remarked that, during his visit to the city, he would meet with representatives from the local Investment Promotion Centre and the Entrepreneurship Support Company in order to learn about the city’s investment climate.  He vowed that he would do his utmost to lift the bilateral cooperation with Da Nang, and Viet Nam as a whole, to new heights in the future.

In reply, Vice Chairman Dung said that his city was paying special attention to promoting the development of local tourism services, and building Da Nang into a green, clean and beautiful city.  Importance is being attached to appealing for domestic and foreign investment in such aspects as hi-tech, information technology, and urban infrastructure.

The city leader also expressed his delight at the numerous fruitful results from the bilateral cooperative relationships with Australia over recent years.  He remarked that around 15 local businesses have established cooperative relationships with partners from Australia.  As of January, 164 trainees from the city’s High-quality Human Resources Development Project have been sent to Australia to study.  After graduation, they have been working for city-based agencies and departments.

Mr Dung also noted that the current FDI inflows into Da Nang from Australia are still modest with only 8 projects, together worth over 8 million USD.  He therefore hoped that the new ambassador would make every effort to appeal for more Australian businesses to invest in the city in the years ahead.