During his reception on Wednesday for Ambassador of the European Union (EU) to Viet Nam Pier Giorgio Aliberti, Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho highly applauded the EU and its Ambassador for their active support for the city in recent times, especially in the deployment of a renewable energy project.

Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Huynh Duc Tho presenting a momento to Ambassador of the EU to Viet Nam Pier Giorgio Aliberti (left)

Chairman Tho said that the friendship between the EU and Da Nang has strengthened considerably. In recent years, Da Nang has welcomed many delegations from such EU’s member countries as the UK, France, Sweden, Belgium and Germany. Meanwhile, delegations of the city leaders have had working trips to Sweden, Germany, Finland, Italy, the UK, the Netherlands, and other EU’s member countries.

With regard to economic cooperation, the imports and exports between Da Nang and the EU has increased steadily over the past years. By late this year, the city’s exports to the EU are likely to have reached 265 million US$, whilst it will have imported 140 million US$ worth of goods from this union. Currently, about 50 Da Nang -based businesses are in good trade relations with the EU’s member states.

Also at the event, Chairman Tho asked for more active engagement by Ambassador Pier Giorgio Aliberti in strengthening the bilateral relationships, appealing for even more investment into the city from the EU community, and supporting the implementation of climate change mitigation projects in the city in the coming time.

In reply, Ambassador Pier Giorgio Aliberti pointed out to the fact that the current development trend that the EU community, and the world at large, follows is the use of the green and clean energy. Recently, the European Commission (EC) has given the funding to the ‘Development of Solar Energy in Da Nang (DSED)” project, which ran from July 2017 to April 2020.

Through this project, the EU community helps the city to promote the use of green and clean energy sources, hereby enhancing to the environmental protection.

The EU has recently approved the funding for the implementation of a natural protection project on the Son Tra Peninsula proposed by the GreenViet Biodiversity Conservation Centre. Work is expected to start on this highly practical project next year.

By LAM PHUONG - Translated by ANH THU