Vice Chairman of Can Tho City’s People’s Committee, Truong Quang Hoai Nam, expressed a wish to partner with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Viet Nam (ICHAM) in fashion and tourism, during a local working session with its Chairman Michele D’Ercole on Tuesday.

Nam introduced the guest to the city’s strengths and potentials in the fields of trade, services, processing industry, transportation, healthcare, education, science-technology, tourism, and high-tech agriculture.

He said the agriculture sector accounts for 8.8 per cent of the economy of the Mekong Delta city; industry, 32.5 per cent, and trade-services the majority with over 59 per cent.

According to Nam, the city is building more roads and bridges over the Hau River, and expanding flights from Can Tho to domestic and international destinations.

Can Tho’s beautiful rivers and renowned floating markets make it one of the top 10 river city destinations in the world, and as such it hopes to work with Italy in order to fully tap such potential.

Thanks to the huge demand for construction and infrastructure, Can Tho also hopes to partner with the European country in these fields.

D’Ercole, for his part, suggested launching fashion design centres to improve the product quality and value of Vietnamese fashion companies. He said ICHAM is ready to introduce Can Tho’s potential to Italian fashion houses during the Italy fashion week in Viet Nam.

He said ICHAM is ready to help Can Tho develop its river tourism, adding that ICHAM will work with the authorities of the Veneto region, which is home to Venice – the world-famous city of canals, to organise a fact-finding trip to Can Tho later this year to seek business opportunities in this field.

He added that ICHAM also wants to explore partnerships in the field of infrastructure construction in the locality.

Both sides agreed to hold business meetings to explore cooperation opportunities, particularly on the occasions of trade fairs in Can Tho. ICHAM is also considering holding Italian cultural and trade days in Can Tho like it does in other countries, D’Ercole said.

The host authorities expressed interest in Acrow Bridge group’s prefabricated bridges, designed by Italian engineers and manufactured in the US, which are suitable for use in the Mekong Delta. — VNS