Attending the conference include Secretary Dinh La Thang, Permanent Deputy Secretary Tat Thanh Cang, Secretary of Long An Party Committee Pham Van Rach, Chairman of HCMC People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of Long An People’s Committee Tran Van Can, etc.

According to the report on the cooperation program of both localities, till end of 2015, a total of 36 enterprises of HCMC was established in Long An province participating in constructing infrastructure at 24 industrial parks with a total area of 8,247 hectares, equivalent to 80.7% of total area of 28 industrial parks of Long An province, total investment capital of VND 14,900 billion. In addition, other 15 enterprises of HCMC have invested 15 industrial clusters in Long An with initial investment capital of VND 6,726 billion. According to 2015 cumulative statistics, there were about 400 secondary enterprises of HCMC investing in industrial parks in Long An worth VND 43,716 billion (accounting for 62% of the total 646 secondary enterprises in industrial parks in Long An).

In term of urban development cooperation, both localities have implemented the common planning on constructing National Road No 1, creating a synchronous infrastructure link between both localities. Long An has started construction of urban traffic axis connecting HCMC. This is a major driving force for urban development in Long An, especially in Tan An and Ben Luc.

Secretary of Long An Party Committee Pham Van Rach said the common potential and strength of both localities is still huge. HCMC is an economic driving force for Long An to develop in the future. With an advantage of bordering HCMC, if HCMC strongly develops, so does Long An.

Addressing at the conference, Secretary of HCMC Party Committee Dinh la Thang highly valued the cooperation results of both localities in 2007-2015. However, he said the achieved results are still not matched with available potential due to lack of clear decentralization and coordination.

To solve this issue, Mr. Thang said it is necessary for both localities to coordinate in settling the issue of common planning such as urban traffic function and space. Leaders of HCMC and Long An province need to settle the so called “regional link policy” effectively, so does the provinces of Southern key economic region.

At the conference, Chairman of HCMC People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong and Chairman of Long An People’s Committee Tran Van Can signed socio-economic development agreement with Lam Dong province in 2016-2020. Both sides agree on 12 cooperation contents in fields of agriculture, industry, trade, investment attraction, transportation, urban development, health, tourism, education-training, science-technology, natural resource and environment, social security.

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