Mai expressed his pleasure in welcoming Kim to the second Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue and the fifth Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum, noting that the southern economic hub and Chungcheongbuk province have effectively implemented many cooperation activities. He showed his belief that the partnership between the two localities will achieve positive results in the coming time.
According to Mai, the dialogue's and the forum's theme focuses on industrial transformation, while Chungcheongbuk has valuable experience in this field that HCM City can learn from.
He highlighted great potential for the two localities to further promote cooperation in semiconductor industry and high technology as outlined in the memorandum of understanding they have signed.
The HCM City leader said cooperation in high-tech agriculture development is also a promising area for collaboration in the near future, pointing out that HCM City has a large number of students from nearly 100 colleges and universities, and education and training is another cooperation area agreed by both sides.
HCM City hopes to establish a joint task force with Chungcheongbuk to discuss and implement specific cooperation programmes in training high-quality human resources and semiconductor technology, Mai stressed, adding that initially, the two localities will begin with training 100 students receiving full scholarships for master's and doctoral programmes in mechanical engineering, as proposed by Chungcheongbuk's leaders.
Kim applauded HCM City's efforts in applying AI, high technology, and semiconductor technology for its development, saying that high technology and semiconductors are among the strengths of Chungcheongbuk.
He urged the two localities to focus on training human resources in this field to not only create a workforce for the economic sector but also foster a bridge of friendship between the Vietnamese and Korean people.
He highly valued HCM City 's strengths in high-quality personnel training, expressing a hope for specific cooperation programmes with Vietnam's southern metropolis in this regard, and master's and doctoral training programmes in areas where the RoK boasts strengths.
Chungcheongbuk is willing to provide 50-100 full scholarships for master's and doctoral programmes in mechanical engineering in the RoK to develop a quality workforce that supports HCM City's development, Kim stated.
