Hanoi, Los Angeles agree on cooperation areas

Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung and Mayor of the US city of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti have agreed to cooperate in addressing environment and transportation issues and develop Hanoi into a smart city.

During a working session in Hanoi on August 28, Chung briefed the guest about the city’s socio-economic achievements after 10 years of adjusting its administrative boundary.

Chung said Hanoi now has a total area of over 3,300 sq.km with a population of more than 10 million. Since 2008, its economy has expanded by 2.5 times, average income per capita has risen 2.8-fold while the number of foreign tourists to the city surged to 4.95 million in 2017 from 1.3 million in 2008. 

The rate of poor households in the city has dropped to 1.68 percent, which is expected to fall to below 1 percent by the end of this year, he said.

The chairman suggested signing a cooperation agreement, with priority given to urban issues, tourism and smart city development as Hanoi is stepping up the building of an e-government. 

Garcetti, for his part, said Los Angeles is ready to help Hanoi improve air quality and reduce environmental pollution. 

He proposed the two cities establish twinning ties to offer mutual support in many fields, initially in dealing with transport congestion, reducing pollution, building smart cities in tandem with cultural and people-to-people exchanges. 

Los Angeles wants to send its students to Hanoi and other Vietnamese cities and provinces for exchange, he said. 

Agreeing with the proposal of setting up twinning relations between Hanoi and Los Angeles, Chung expressed readiness to welcome Los Angeles students and hoped that the two cities will conduct regular exchanges to expand friendship ties between the two cities and the two nations in general.
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