Partnerships for Municipal Innovation in Local Economic Development (PMI LED) is funded by the Government of Canada and implemented by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) for 5 years (2015-2020). The project of Economic Development and Trade (RED & Trade) is executed to promote trade and investment, as well as applying regional economic development methods to stimulate local economic activities.

The RED & Trade project under the PMI LED program is a cooperation project between the cities of Can Tho, Cao Lanh, Sa Dec, Hong Ngu (town), Chau Doc and Canadian partner cities namely Rossland and Edmonton. The project aims to improve the capacity of the member cities and the stakeholders to develop regional economic cooperation plans and promote trade for 5 municipalities in the Mekong Delta whose strength is being major agricultural production region of Vietnam.

At the meeting, Mrs. Vo Thi Hong Anh, Vice Chairman of Can Tho city People's Committee expected that the PMI LED project will create specific, practical products which meet the requirements of both sides and become a bridge to connect Canadian as well as Vietnamese businesses. At the same time, after the agreement program ends, there must be at least 4 - 5 enterprises to export goods of the Mekong Delta region to Canada and vice versa.

In terms of tourism, Vice President Vo Thi Hong Anh said that tourism products in the Mekong Delta region are very rich and diverse. Specifically, the lotus city of Cao Lanh and Con Son community tourism of Can Tho are typical tourism products that have had initial successes and will be replicated for other tourist areas in the future. After this trip, Mrs. Vo Thi Hong Anh hoped that Canadian experts will study the strengths as well as the potentials of each province and listen to their opinions and suggestions to support these localities better.

Representative of FCM, Mr. Marten Kruysse, an expert in Trade Management and Development thanked the city leaders for their solemn reception and expressed his surprise at the remarkable progress in the regional development planning and trade development of the Mekong Delta region in general and Can Tho city in particular.

Mr. Marten Kruysse affirmed that this achievement comes from the cooperation efforts of both sides and hoped that the information and knowledge shared by the Canadian experts will create positive impacts to accelerate the implementation of the cooperation program. At the same time, He said that FCM will support the cities of Can Tho and Cao Lanh in tourism development and creating favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to export agricultural products to the Canadian market, especially the export of mangoes.

Speaking at the meeting, Mrs. Vo Thi Hong Anh asked FCM and ACVN to gather information and collect comments after each workshop, field trip to serve as materials for replication plan in other cities. Moreover, both sides have to summarize work experience, evaluate the effectiveness of the project and establish replication plan after the end of the cooperation program. Finally, Vice Chairman Vo Thi Hong Anh expected the twinning program between the cities of Edmonton, Rossland (Canada) and the cities of Can Tho, Cao Lanh (Vietnam) to be concretized and officially completed, not only in the field of economic development and tourism, but also in other fields such as health, education and environmental protection.