On the afternoon of November 20 (local time), the Ho Chi Minh City delegation led by Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, arrived in Helsinki, the Republic of Finland, to begin a visit and work in this country.
Accompanying the delegation were comrades: Phan Nguyen Nhu Khue, member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Head of the Propaganda Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade; Lam Dinh Thang, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications; Thai Thi Bich Lien, Deputy Head of the Organization Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.
Also participating were comrades: Vo Ngoc Quoc Thuan, Secretary of District 8 Party Committee; Le Minh Dung, Secretary of Can Gio District Party Committee; Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training; Cao Son Yen, Deputy Chief of Office of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Pham Dut Diem, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Foreign Affairs.
Many advantages in developing bilateral relations
Accordingly, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to the Helsinki Metropolitan Government. The delegation was received by Mr. Juhana Vartiainen, Mayor of Helsinki; Mr. Peter, Chairman and Co-founder of Finest Future and many officials of the Helsinki Metropolitan Government in charge of international cooperation, smart cities, startups and innovation.
Mayor of Helsinki Juhana Vartiainen introduced to the delegation the development vision of Helsinki, with special attention paid to three aspects: sustainable economic development; adaptation to climate change and the goal of becoming a carbon-neutral city by 2023; and sustainable social development.
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| Mr. Juhana Vartiainen, Mayor of Helsinki, Republic of Finland, welcomed Deputy Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai |
According to Mr. Juhana Vartiainen, to achieve the above development visions, the Helsinki Capital Government highly values investment in education development, ensuring that all people, from children to adults, have equal access to education and are equipped with the necessary skills.
Mr. Juhana Vartiainen said that the number of Vietnamese students studying in Helsinki is increasing and becoming the largest international student community in Helsinki. The Helsinki government as well as the people appreciate the diligence, dynamism and progress of Vietnamese students.
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| Mayor of Helsinki, Republic of Finland - Juhana Vartiainen at the working session |
In response to the warm feelings and enthusiastic welcome of the leaders of the capital Helsinki, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai expressed his honor to lead the Ho Chi Minh City delegation to visit the beautiful and ancient capital Helsinki.
According to comrade Nguyen Ho Hai, the visit becomes even more meaningful as Vietnam and Finland are organizing activities to celebrate the 50th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.
“The Vietnamese people always appreciate and deeply remember Finland’s valuable support and assistance to Vietnam during the struggle for independence and national reunification, especially the recent “development cooperation” programs in the fields of water supply and drainage, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, rural development, and climate change adaptation,” emphasized comrade Nguyen Ho Hai.
Referring to the position of the capital Helsinki as one of the cities with the highest living standards and most livable in the world and generating 35% of Finland's total GDP, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai believes that with their roles as major centers in many aspects in each country, Ho Chi Minh City and the capital Helsinki will have stronger steps and measures to turn potential into cooperation projects, bringing practical benefits to the two localities, serving as a foundation to promote relations between the two countries.
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Comrade Nguyen Ho Hai speaks at the working session with the Mayor of Helsinki |
At the meeting, Mr. Juhana Vartiainen also shared a lot of information about education development, startups and innovation in Helsinki in particular and Finland in general.
Regarding this content, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai also said that Ho Chi Minh City is currently the economic, cultural, scientific and technological locomotive and international exchange hub of Vietnam, with nearly 300,000 operating enterprises (accounting for ⅓ of the total number of enterprises nationwide). Although accounting for only about 0.6% of the area and 10% of the population of the country, Ho Chi Minh City contributes an average of 23% of GDP, 27% of total budget revenue, 25% of export turnover and attracts over 40% of total FDI projects nationwide.
In addition, Ho Chi Minh City is building the Eastern part of the city into a highly interactive Innovation Center; including a gathering place for universities; High-tech Park; the location of the future financial center; will form a strategic triangle to develop the city's innovation environment. Ho Chi Minh City has also established and put into operation the Ho Chi Minh City Center for Application of Science and Technology Advances. Vietnam and Finland have been cooperating effectively within the framework of the Innovation Partnership Program. He affirmed that this is a favorable basis for Ho Chi Minh City to promote trade, investment and many other cooperation with Finland in general, Helsinki in particular.
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Ho Chi Minh City delegation took a souvenir photo with the Finnish National Agency for Education |
At the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai welcomed the idea of Mr. Peter, Chairman and Co-founder of Finest Future, in Helsinki soon organizing a delegation of Finnish startups and training institutions to visit Ho Chi Minh City to connect, promote cooperation, share experiences between the two sides on innovation, improve education, training links, exchange between the startup community, innovation, thereby creating a foundation for cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and Helsinki.
Strong development cooperation in education
On the same day, the delegation of Ho Chi Minh City led by Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai had a working session with Mr. Samu Seitsalo, Director of International Relations, Finnish National Agency for Education.
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Scene of the working session with Mr. Samu Seitsalo, Director of International Relations, Finnish National Agency for Education |
Receiving the delegation from Ho Chi Minh City were Mr. Samu Seitsalo, Director of International Relations, Finnish National Agency for Education; Ms. Marjo Somari, Senior Expert of Finnish National Agency for Education in charge of supporting Finnish training institutions in international student recruitment; Ms. Ida Immonen, officer in charge of international education services of Finland.
At the meeting, Mr. Samu Seitsalo introduced to the delegation the tasks and functions of the Finnish National Agency for Education; the role of teachers in the teaching process and the compilation of textbooks. Finland is known as the world's leading country in terms of the proportion of the population with a high level of education, accounting for 45% of the population.
In return, Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai informed that the Vietnamese student community in Finland is the second largest foreign student community in Finland with about more than 2,500 students. This number clearly shows the interest of the young talented community of Vietnam in Finland's advanced education, contributing to the bright future of the Vietnam - Finland diplomatic relationship.
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Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Ho Hai presented a souvenir to Mr. Samu Seitsalo, Director of International Relations, Finnish National Agency for Education. |
In Ho Chi Minh City, since its inauguration, the Vietnam - Finland International School (VFIS) - the first international school in Southeast Asia to apply the Finnish educational philosophy - and the KONE Finnish Vocational Training Center have been operating effectively, worthy of being a symbol of effective cooperation as well as the mutual trust that the two governments have shared, with the common goal of building a future generation of Vietnam with high-quality Finnish education.
Ho Chi Minh City leaders believe that students at these schools, along with the Vietnamese student community in Finland, will be an important bridge for the two countries to develop bilateral relations.
For more information, the Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee said that the population of Ho Chi Minh City is relatively young, dynamic, professional, highly skilled, and effectively integrated internationally. Ho Chi Minh City has about more than 13 million people, including 7 million workers and 4 million students. That will be the appropriate target to promote education - training, and exchange of high-quality human resources between Finland and Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh City leaders hope that in the coming time, Finland will consider increasing the number of scholarships for Vietnamese students, strengthening cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City's educational institutions through supporting the development of the city's educational innovation strategy, sharing experiences in school management, digital transformation in education, building joint training programs, student/teacher exchanges, and investing/supporting facilities.
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