Welcoming the delegation were Mr. Stephen Harris, Head of Pacific Ocean and Fisheries, Within the Pacific and Development Group and Ms. Elizabeth Cameron, Senior Advisor for Agriculture, Climate Finance, Within the Pacific and Development Aid Group.

Over the past time, the cooperative relationship between New Zealand and Vietnam in general and Can Tho City in particular has been constantly developing. Can Tho has strengths in services, agriculture and is known as an urban area in the river region. Can Tho is ranked by American magazine Departures as one of the nine cities with the most attractive canal and river system for tourism. Being highly appreciated by Departures magazine is a testament to the beauty and attractiveness of the Can Tho river system for international visitors. This is also a condition for the city to widely promote the image of rivers on international and domestic media channels, develop unique tourism products, diversify types of river tourism associated with raising community awareness of cultural preservation, environmental protection and sustainable tourism development.

Cai Khe boat lock in Can Tho city, anti-flood works combined with water music performance is a highlight for the river city of Can Tho. Photo: Collaborator

An urban corner of Can Tho city. Photo: Collaborator

In addition, environmental protection and climate change response activities are always important issues that Can Tho city pays special attention to. The city has implemented many actions and solutions to respond to climate change and protect the environment in the city. In particular, there is an application of an automatic system to collect and treat waste on the river entirely using solar energy. In terms of agriculture, Can Tho City has advantages of climate, topography, high sunshine and stability in two seasons of the year, the weather in the area is very suitable for the development of agriculture with high productivity, many types of crops and livestock, creating diversity in production and economic restructuring. Can Tho is also one of the localities participating in the project of 1 million hectares of high-quality, low-emission rice, implemented by the Government in the Mekong Delta, which is sponsored by the New Zealand Climate Smart Agriculture Program and the New Zealand Embassy in Vietnam. The new rice cultivation model brings higher productivity, reduces production costs and especially reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Harvesting rice at the pilot model of the 1 million hectare high-quality, low-emission rice project associated with green growth in the Mekong Delta region in Can Tho City. Photo: Collaborator

Mr. Pham Van Hieu emphasized: New Zealand is known as a country that pays strong attention to policies, activities to protect the environment, solutions against plastic waste, development of clean energy sources and especially nature conservation, biodiversity. Based on New Zealand's strengths, Can Tho City wishes to promote cooperation with New Zealand partners in key areas of strength of the two sides. Specifically, it invites New Zealand investors to come to Can Tho to seek cooperation opportunities in the fields of agriculture and aquaculture (processing, storage, preservation of agricultural products, export of aquatic products and fruits). The city also hopes that New Zealand and its partners will support Can Tho City to open short-term and long-term training courses for agricultural specialists in the city on organic agricultural production. In addition, the city also hopes to promote cooperation with New Zealand partners in other fields such as renewable energy, information technology, green economy, circular economy, and high-tech agriculture.