Under the deal, inked by Porto Mayor Rui Moreira and Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Duong Anh Duc, the two sides will promote collaboration in culture, tourism, economy, trade, urban upgrading and heritage conservation.
They will create favourable conditions for football teams and clubs of the two cities to exchange and share experience, while encouraging local departments and agencies to increase cooperation.
Addressing the signing ceremony in Porto, Duc said he hopes the MoU will help bolster the partnership between the two cities, the two economic hubs of Vietnam and Portugal, especially in economy, culture, tourism and innovation, thus contributing to promoting the ties between the two countries.
For his part, Moreira said he believes the deal will help form an effective economic partnership between the two sides and beef up bilateral cooperation on other fields, especially tourism and urban upgrading.
Speaking to the Vietnam News Agency (VNA), Moreira highlighted the traditional relations between Vietnam and Portugal as well as the growing bilateral partnership in recent years thanks to the strong economic ties between the EU and Vietnam.
Both Moreira and Duc pointed to similarities between Porto and HCM City and their cooperation potential, particularly in tourism, cultural heritage preservation, tertiary education, science and technology for the development of both cities.
While in Porto, the HCM City delegation visited Bolhão, an ancient market that opened in 1839, one of the important historical and architectural sites of Portugal that has been restored and expected to become a cultural and cuisine centre of the European country. They also visited the projects to restore Matadouro ancient street of Porto to learn experience of the city in the work.
On the occasion, they also worked with the University of Porto, one of the 100 best universities of Europe, which ranks among the top 350 universities in the world.
The second largest city of Portugal, Porto is one of the oldest cities in Europe. The city downtown area has been recognised by the UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage Site.
