Chairman of the Da Nang People’s Committee Le Trung Chinh visited many organisations and businesses in New York and Washington DC during his trip to the US from November 18 to 20 (local time).

The Da Nang delegation posing a photo with leaders of the US Department of State

During his meeting on November 18 with the Financial Services Volunteer Corps (FSVC) in New York, Chairman Chinh remarked Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City have been selected to implement the project to build regional and international financial centres in Viet Nam.

He highly praised FSVC for its great contributions to the project, requesting the organisation to continue sharing experiences in management and operation mechanisms, and consulting on legal frameworks, preferential policies and specific support. This will help the soon-to-be-developed financial centre in Da Nang exploit its distinct competitive advantages to the maximum, and resonate with the comprehensive international financial centre in Ho Chi Minh City, thereby contributing to promoting the socio-economic growth of Viet Nam in general and Da Nang in particular.

For his part, Vice Chairman of the FSVC Executive Board Bill Mills highly appreciated the potential and opportunities of Da Nang in developing a modern financial market.

He stressed the need for Da Nang to refer to and filter out world experience, and apply separate investment incentives for each different investor group, in order to successfully build and effectively operate the international financial centre model. He also committed to connecting the city with potential partners and businesses.

FSVC is a not-for-profit organisation that helps strengthen financial sectors in developing and emerging market countries. It does so with the ultimate aim of promoting job creation, economic growth and a better quality of life.

In the afternoon of the same day, the Da Nang delegation was introduced to the solid waste treatment process in Peekskill, Westchester, New York while working with leaders of the Wheelabrator Westchester Waste Treatment Plant developed by Win Waste Innovations Group.

The Da Nang delegation visiting the Wheelabrator Westchester Waste Treatment Plant

With three incinerators, the Westchester Wheelabrator currently receives and handles more than 75% of the waste generated in Westchester County, reaching a capacity of over 2,250 tonnes/day. Also, it converts energy from waste with a capacity of 60MW, providing clean energy for more than 30,000 local households.

In nearly 40 years of operation, Wheelabrator Westchester has been considered one of the successful models in combining waste treatment and renewable energy development, helping to reduce the amount of landfill waste and methane emissions, and the dependence on fossil energy sources, contributing significantly to realising the goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.

Chairman Chinh praised the Win Waste Innovations Group for developing modern waste treatment solutions, sharing about Da Nang's goal in building an environmentally friendly city.

With rapid population growth and strong urban development, sustainable waste management solutions, including the waste-to-energy incineration technology being deployed at the Westchester Wheelabrator Plant, are considered a highly feasible model for Da Nang to study and apply. This will help the city solve the problem of waste treatment in an effective and environmentally friendly manner.

During their stay in New York, the Da Nang delegation visited the Port Elizabeth, a major component of the Port of New York and New Jersey system - the largest port complex on the North American East Coast.

Directly connected to the rail, road and sea transport systems, Port Elizabeth boasts many competitive advantages in the handling and distribution of goods, becoming an important destination in the global supply chain, and contributing to affirming the position of the New York and New Jersey region on the international trade map.

On the afternoon of November 19, in Washington DC, Chairman Chinh and members of the working delegation met with Ms. Carol Henninger, Director of the Office of Multilateral Trade Affairs at the US Department of State, and representatives of the International Technology Security and Innovation (ITSI) Fund to promote cooperation activities in the field of semiconductor microchips.

The Da Nang delegation working with the US Department of State.

Sharing about the development orientation of Da Nang with Ms. Carol Henniger, Mr. Chinh informed that semiconductor industry is identified as the driving force for the city's breakthrough development in the coming time.

Da Nang targets to train, foster and attract at least 5,000 human resources for design, testing and packaging in the semiconductor industry by 2030. Thanks to the support of the US Department of State and the ITSI Fund, universities in Da Nang have recently implemented semiconductor training programmes and achieved remarkable results.

The city leader proposed that the US Department of State and the ITSI Fund continue to support Da Nang in training and developing human resources for the semiconductor industry, especially through scholarship programmes or specialised training and cooperation with leading US universities such as Arizona State University and Oregon State University, as well as in implementing STEM education programmes in senior high schools and recommending appropriate policies for Da Nang.

Chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Le Trung Chinh (right) presenting a souvenir to leader of the US Department of State.

Sharing the information of Da Nang being the only locality in Viet Nam allowed to pilot the implementation of specific preferential policies in the field of semiconductor, Chairman Chinh expressed his wish that the US Department of State will connect and introduce more potential US businesses and investors to invest and do business in the city.

A representative of the US Department of State highly appreciated Da Nang's orientation for developing the semiconductor industry. The presence of leading US semiconductor companies such as Synopsys and Marvell in Da Nang is the clearest evidence of the city's potential and opportunities to deeply participate in the global semiconductor supply chain.

Ms. Carol Henniger voiced her hope that in the coming time, Da Nang will continue to closely cooperate with the Arizona State University to effectively implement training programmes for testing and packaging human resources within the framework of the ITSI Fund initiative.

In addition, representatives of the ITSI Fund introduced potential partners to the city for connecting and establishing cooperative relationships.

At the working session with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on November 20 morning, Chairman Chinh thanked the agency for its active support for Da Nang in the past time, especially in environment protection and improving local capacity.

The city leader took the opportunity to ask USAID to continue expanding the scale and areas of cooperation according to the content of the agreement signed between the two sides in January 2024, with a focus on sharing experiences related to solid waste management and waste classification at source, considering the establishment of a Carbon Credit Office in Da Nang, and supporting Da Nang in building an innovation ecosystem.

USAID Global Deputy Director General Michael Schiffer affirmed that USAID will work closely with Da Nang to effectively implement the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two sides.

Accordingly, Da Nang was selected by USAID to carry out the Local Initiative project with activities and solutions aimed at developing Da Nang into a green city.

Agreeing on the orientation of sustainable economic development with a concentration on people, and developing a circular economy and a green economy, the two sides pledged to actively coordinate to build dynamic and widespread cooperation programmes.

Within the framework of the working session, the delegation of Da Nang and USAID discussed new driving forces for the economic development of the city such as Free Trade Zone, and semiconductor industry, thereby opening up many new cooperation opportunities in the coming time.

Reporting by GIA MINH, Working delegation - Translating by M.DUNG