Chairman of the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province Phan Ngoc Tho suggested Germany should continue to expand cooperation to various fields of research, culture and education, promote people-to-people diplomatic relations between Thua Thien Hue and Germany localities.

Chairman of the People's Committee of Thua Thien Hue Province Phan Ngoc Tho received Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Vietnam, Dr. Guido Hildner on April 19.

On the occasion of his first visit to Hue, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to Vietnam, Dr. Guido Hildner was received by Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Phan Ngoc Tho.

The two sides discussed the numerous German activities in Hue, including the long-standing German commitment to the preservation of Vietnamese cultural monuments. Current project is the restoration of the Phung Dien Temple area in the Hue Citadel with training and education components for Vietnamese professionals and students.

Ambassador Hildner acknowledged the special significance of the former imperial city as an important cultural center of the country. He said the cooperation in restoring historic sites in Hue is an important contribution to preserving cultural heritage and identity in Vietnam.

At the meeting, Chairman Phan Ngoc Tho expressed his appreciation and gratitude for the support from Germany and the German Embassy in Vietnam to Thua Thien Hue province recently, especially in the restoration and conservation projects at the Complex of Hue Monuments.

The Chairman also asserted that culture, conservation and development were cross-cutting issues in the cooperation between Thua Thien Hue and Germany.

Ambassador Hildner praised Hue as an important university and science location. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) regularly awards doctoral scholarships to students from Hue. During the visit, a donation of books worth about VND 270 million (about EUR 10,000) from the DAAD was handed over to the International School of Hue University.

He said that the fact that Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy had recently been selected as one of several universities from ASEAN countries for a multi-year DAAD research project in the ASEAN region showed the international competitiveness of Hue as a university location.

Many Germany alumni at universities and faculties in Hue were engaged in joint projects and built important bridges between our countries. Currently, about 7,500 Vietnamese are studying in Germany, they are the alumni of tomorrow.

Germany has a great interest in seeing more Vietnamese young people decide to study in Germany after the pandemic has been overcome. In the field of vocational training, he said, a project has been in place since over a year with the Hue Industrial College to provide advice on wastewater training.

Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Phan Ngoc Tho pointed out that the fields prioritized for support by Germany were relevant to the expectation of the people of Thua Thien Hue.

He suggested that Germany should continue to expand cooperation to various fields of research, culture and education, promote people-to-people diplomatic relations between Thua Thien Hue and Germany localities, survey towards the establishment of a German cultural center in Hue.

Delegation from German Embassy visits Hue Monuments Conservation Center.

Finally, Ambassador Hildner pointed out two forward-looking German projects in the environmental sector that are being implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) with Vietnamese partners. One is a pilot project for public bike sharing in Hue city and the other is a EUR 4-million project for improving livelihood of sustainable forestry, the project of native-tree afforestation against climate change in the coastal area.

Furthermore, there is a project in the Hue area financed by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and implemented by a Vietnamese company to restore sand dunes by planting native tree species.

In addition, Germany is also carrying out several piloting projects in Hue, such as public bicycle,

Chairman Tho also looking forward to more attention and support from the Ambassador in the future in order to elevate the cooperation between Thua Thien Hue province and the partners in Germany to a new level./.

Hannah Nguyen