As the 60th anniversary of the Hanoi - Hue - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) twinned friendship is coming (October 8, 1960 - October 8, 2020), talking with Thua Thien Hue Newspaper, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee shared…

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Mr. Phan Ngoc Tho

Sir, over the past 60 years, how have the beautiful and lasting friendships of the three provinces, cities been shown and maintained?

Along with the process of building, defending our country, and implementing the Doi Moi tasks, the Party, the authorities, and the people of the three twinned provinces and cities have continuously developed beautiful feelings, deep and long-lasting friendship, which has always been preserved and developed by generations. However, if looking further, we could see that the relationship between Thang Long and Thuan Hoa - Phu Xuan - Hue has been over 700 years, and between Phu Xuan - Hue and Saigon - Gia Dinh is nearly 400 years.

From the friendship ceremony to the day that our homeland united, it has been 15 years; during that journey, the twinned provinces and cities always stand side by side.

The movement of forming a twinned friendship among localities had proven its practical effect in encouraging the Northern people and soldiers to vie for the production and fight the enemy to defend the North and assist the South, and to foster the sacrificing and fighting spirit of the Southern soldiers and people for the unification of the country.

With a long-lasting history of the three political, cultural, and economic centers that used to hold the leading positions in the country, being in a unified whole - "trees of the same root, offspring’s of a family" has a great significance. This is not only the history's objective trend but also the legitimate sentiment of the people of the three regions - the strong vitality of our country, becoming a driving force for the nation's development.

Now, Hanoi - Hue - Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is continuing its precious tradition, standing side-by-side to foster comprehensive exchanges and cooperation in all fields. Along with the whole country, we determine to implement the industrialization and modernization successfully for integration and development.

Can you mention some outstanding results in the cooperation relations between the three twinned provinces and cities? Which field is the most preferred?

The green trees presented by Hanoi are planted in An Hoa park, Hue.

Recently, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Thua Thien Hue have had many activities to share experiences in the work of building the Party and the system of politics, exchanging, learning, and sharing work experiences. In the socio-economic field, localities have also gained remarkable cooperation results.

Notably, every year, the tourism industry has many coordinated activities to attract tourists to the localities, build sightseeing programs, connect tour destinations. Thua Thien Hue province is assisted by Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in participating in tourism promotion both abroad and in some regions and cities to share the state management experiences, foster human resource promotion and training, and strengthen the role of the enterprises' community, aiming to increase the number of tourists and the quality of revenue from tourism.

Trade promotion activities actively participated by enterprises of three provinces and cities have developed distribution and agent systems in many localities.

The Department of Culture - Sports and that of Education - Training in the three regions regularly have exchange activities, especially in the training and coaching teachers, athletes, and coaches. Hue Central Hospital has cooperated with medical agencies in Hanoi for exchanging expertise in medical, training, and scientific research in infection prevention, organ transplant, cardiology, and pediatrics, etc.

In the coming time, are there any activities carried out by three provinces and cities to confirm the long-lasting solidarity that has been nurtured and developed?

To continue to implement the cooperation program effectively between the three localities, leaders of these provinces and cities have met, exchanged, and come to the agreement that it is necessary to actively exchange experiences, concretize the Party's policies, lines, directives, and resolutions to ensure the efficiency, especially resolutions of the Central.

In socio-economic development, the three localities continue to agree on promoting the cooperation on groups of issues, including zoning, making plans, promoting investment promotion and assisting business, tourism, commerce, socio-culture, health, education, environment, and social welfare. Recently, Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have supported Thua Thien Hue with funding and trees with a desire to have a park - a permanent and lasting symbol of Hue - Saigon - Hanoi in Hue.

These commitments open a new phase in the process of comprehensive exchange and cooperation in all fields, promoting the socio-economic development of Thua Thien Hue, and the other two large cities further. From that, Hanoi could be externally worth the stature of the capital city - a thousand years of civilization, a political and economic center of our country; whereas  Ho Chi Minh City is a strong and dynamic economic center, and Thua Thien Hue is a city of unique tourism, culture, and festivals with cultural heritages of humanity.

Thua Thien Hue is on its way to becoming a municipal city under central governing according to the Resolution 54 of the Politburo, which is the premise for the new position of Thua Thien Hue in the cooperation with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The three localities have been and will be implementing many comprehensive plans and programs for mutual development in which Hanoi, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh City are to become three major political, economic, cultural - tourist centers with specific characteristics of the North, Central, and South.

By Thai Binh