IFC to assist Ho Chi Minh City in building smart city

Ho Chi Minh City and IFC officials pose for a photo (Photo: VNA)

At the meeting in the southern economic hub of Vietnam, Liem thanked the IFC for supporting the city’s leaders during their working visit to the US in late 2017 during which Ho Chi Minh City and the IFC signed a cooperation agreement.

He asked the IFC to help Ho Chi Minh City learn smart city building experience from countries around the world, especially in the formation of a centre for research, simulation, forecast and building of socio-economic development strategies.

Liem proposed the IFC provide financial aid to assist Ho Chi Minh City in carrying out a feasibility study on the building of a highly interactive creativity centre linking districts 2, 9 and Thu Duc district so as to provide favourable conditions for the local start-up community to share experience and cooperate.

Ho Chi Minh City also looks forward to the IFC’s consultancy on the implementation of public-private partnership (PPP) projects, the official said, inviting the IFC to attend an international workshop on state budget use and PPP held in coordination with the World Bank in the city in May.

Expressing her interest in bilateral cooperation, Stoiljkovic vowed that she and her colleagues will work with Ho Chi Minh City to implement the cooperation memorandum inked in late 2017. She also affirmed that the IFC will be a good partner of the city in supporting private businesses’ development.

She highly evaluated the city’s strategic vision and efforts in building a smart city, noting that the IFC will help it study smart city building projects. She added the construction of financial and high technology development centres is important to developing a smart city as they will create connectivity and promote other fields like finance and human resources training.

Accepting the invitation to attend the workshop on PPP, Stoiljkovic said the IFC has high-quality specialists who are ready to advise Ho Chi Minh City in building the PPP structure and using capital in PPP projects effectively. Cooperation between the IFC and Ho Chi Minh City will open up new approaches in development cooperation and sponsorship, she said.

The IFC Vice President also expressed her delight at Ho Chi Minh City’s selection of Standard & Poor’s Rating Service as the consultant for credit and financial management rating. She considered this move as a fine beginning for the city to access loans without the government’s guarantee, thereby helping to mobilise capital for local development projects in the future.