Beijing (VNA) –A delegation of Ho Chi Minh City led by Secretary of the municipal Party Committee NguyenVan Nen held talks with Chen Jining, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai on November 14 within the frameworkof their working trip to China from November 13-18.

The HCM City leader expressed his delight at the positive development of relations between the two Parties and two countries since the historic visit to China by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in 2022. He said that Vietnam always attaches great importance to promoting the Vietnam-China comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which is a consistent policy, a strategic choice and a top priority in its foreign policy.     

Welcoming the delegation,Chen stressed that the two Parties and two states have strengthened their ties across the fields, and in that framework, Shanghai and HCM City have signed many cooperative agreements.

He briefed the Vietnamese delegation about the socio-economic development of Shanghai in recent years and wished tocontinue to enhance the bilateral relationship of thetwo cities. 

Chen affirmed that the two cities have many similarities and thereis still a lot of room for collaboration in many fields, contributing to implementing common high-level perceptions for the stable, healthy and sustainable development of the relationship between the two countries and the two cities.

🌃 After the talks, leaders ofthe two cities witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on friendlyexchange and cooperation between the Vietnam Fatherland Front’s chapter in Ho Chi Minh City and the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People’s PoliticalConsultative Conference, and another between the police forces of HCM City and Shanghai.

On this occasion, Vietnam’s new-age carrier Vietjet announced that it will open a new air route linkingHCM City and Shanghai from December 1. Leaders of the two countries jointly extended their congratulations to Vietjet on the airline's new route.

Vietjet’s Shanghai - Ho Chi Minh City route will commence first flights from December 1, 2023, with seven round-trips per week.

ꦑ With a flight time of just over 4 hours per leg, these flights will meet the travel needs of residents, tourists, and business people between Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City, providing convenient travel schedule and affordable fares.

Also on November 14, the delegationof HCM City visited the school of the Shanghai Party Committee and Shanghai Library East, the biggest library in China. Earlier on November 13, the delegationhad a working session with Zhu Zhisong, Party Secretary of Pudong New Area (Shanghai) during which the two sides shared information about the strengths of the twolocalities, policies to attract investment as well as the formation of a financialcentre./.