Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Le Thanh Liem (R) presents a souvenir to Deputy Mayor of China’s Shanghai city Peng Chenglei

At the meeting, Liem underscored Vietnam’s consistent policy of treasuring the traditional relations and all-round cooperation with China.

He noted that the policy has been reflected through many visits by senior leaders of Vietnam and China to each other country, including the trip of Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to China in April to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Briefing the guest on the city’s recent socio-economic development, he said that the visit of the Shanghai delegation takes place as the two cities are celebrating the 25th anniversary of bilateral friendship and partnership, which is expected to help bolster their ties.

Noting that the two cities have regularly exchanged delegations and fostered collaboration in education and training, Liem proposed that in the coming time, the two sides will continue to boost cooperation in the field.

Peng said his visit aims to further promote cooperation between Shanghai and HCM City in particular and between Vietnam and China in general.

Vietnam and China are good neighbours and friends, he said and called on the two sides to actively conduct delegation exchanges and visits to increase friendship and mutual understanding.

He expressed his impression on the development of HCM City and said the city and Shanghai share a lot of similarities in terms of position, importance, and central economic role to their nations.

Therefore the development of the bilateral relations will actively contribute to reinforcing and enhancing the two countries’ ties.

Shanghai wants to study cooperation opportunities with HCM City in the field of agriculture, especially developing green and high-quality agriculture.

It is also willing to boost collaboration with HCM City in personnel training and other fields of mutual interest, he said.

Liem said HCM City is interested in developing green and high-tech agriculture and willing to partner with Shanghai in this realm.

The southern economic hub is also keen to share experience with Shanghai in building financial and trade centres.-VNA