On Monday, Da Nang People’s Committee Vice Chairman Dang Viet Dung played host to the New Zealand Ambassador to Viet Nam, Ms Wendy Matthews.

Ms Matthews (left) and Vice Chairman Dung (right)

During his reception for the guest, Vice Chairman Dung expressed his delight at fruitful results from comprehensive cooperation programmes with New Zealand's localities over recent years, especially in education, high-quality human resource training, and healthcare.

The host remarked that Da Nang was targeting to build a smarter city and an e-government system in the future. Last year, the city came out top of the Viet Nam ICT Index 2018, the ranking on the readiness for information and communications technology development and applications, for the 10^th consecutive year.

“Most notably, the city is applying electronic medical records in some medical establishments, as well as developing intelligent education with a focus on building smart classrooms and e-library, and applying e-lessons into teaching activities. As for the transport aspect, the city is planning to develop smart transportation, an e-ticket system, and smart traffic lights”, he noted.

Vice Chairman Dung, therefore, asked for help from the New Zealand government to faciliate his city better implement the above-mentioned plans.

Mr Dung, however, emphasised the bilateral cooperative relationship with New Zealand has yet to fully tap the great potentials and expectations of the two sides. He also asked for the help from the foreign diplomat to boost the bilateral cooperative relations between Da Nang and New Zealand’s localities in the years ahead, especially in the aspects of language training, education and tourism.

In reply, Ms Matthews remarked a total of 2,500 Vietnamese students, including those from Da Nang, were studying in her country.

She affirmed her government’s willingness to help Da Nang build a smarter city and train high-quality human resources.

Also at the meeting, Vice Chairman Dung awarded a Certificate of Merit from the municipal People's Committee to Ms Matthews in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the bilateral friendship relations between New Zealand and Da Nang in 2017.