During his reception for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Viet Nam Caitlin Wiesen on Thursday, Da Nang People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh asked for the support from UNDP to conduct the City Lab approach trial. The aim is to facilitate joint learning, exploration and experimentation of innovative solutions that drive the city's socio-economic development and uphold achievements of the Da Nang Sustainable Development Goals.

Da Nang People's Committee Chairman Le Trung Chinh (right) receiving UNDP Resident Representative in Viet Nam Caitlin Wiesen on April 29

In recent years, UNDP-supported projects have been effectively implemented across the city such as ‘Enhancing the impact of administrative reform in Da Nang’ over the  2012 – 2016 period, ‘Experimental research on building a City Lab approach’ from 2019 to present, and ‘The circular economic network of Da Nang’ in 2021. These are projects which play a important role in driving the city’s growth, especially its investment attraction.

Based on the signing of a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU) and the true needs of the city, the two officials agreed to implement a project to research and formulate the City Lab model associated with night-time economic development and tourism for Da Nang.

The municipal People's Committee has agreed on the trial implementation of the framework of the ‘Bringing the world to Da Nang’ concept under this project. At the same time, the Institute for Socio-Economic Development was assigned to assume the prime responsibility for coordinating with UNDP in creating a detailed plan for pilot activities.

According to the Chairman Chinh, Da Nang boasts great advantages in terms of its medium population size and the important geopolitical position. Effective investment projects in Da Nang have a ‘spillover effect’ on many other nationwide localities, especially in the aspects of tourism, science - technology, innovation, education and healthcare.

He pledged that the municipal authorities would create the most favourable possible conditions and coordinate with UNDP in the process of taking solutions to build Da Nang into a smart and livable city in the coming time.

In reply, Ms Caitlin Wiesen highly appreciated the high effectiveness of projects jointly implemented by UNDP and Da Nang in recent years, especially the City Lab project for the sake of Da Nang’s socio-economic development.

Ms Caitlin Wiesen hoped that, in the coming time, the two sides will effectively deploy experiments related to evening economy in Da Nang.

In addition, UNDP is also implementing projects on circular economy, sustainable development, environmental protection and other aspects in the city, thereby contributing to promoting the local socio-economic development and protecting a sustainable urban environment.

Reporting by PHONG LAN – Translating by A.T