Sunday, September 25 at 6 PM at Villa Masséna – Nice
Christian Estrosi, Deputy, Mayor of Nice, President of Nice Côte d’Azur, will welcome a delegation of Vietnamese dignitaries including Duong Chi Dung, Ambassador of Vietnam in France, and Dinh Toan Thang, Minister Counselor, to proceed with the signing of a twinning charter between the City of Nice and the City-Province of Can Tho.
This twinning follows the decision made by the two cities to intensify their exchanges during the 8th Franco-Vietnamese Decentralized Cooperation Meeting held in Haiphong, Vietnam, in November 2010.
This decentralized cooperation will focus on the fields of higher education, health, and culture.
The Vietnamese delegation will meet with the leaders of the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, visit the Nice University Hospital, attend a performance at the Nice Opera, and visit the Matisse Museum.
Can Tho, which means “The river of poems,” is a City-Province considered the Capital of Southwest Vietnam. It is located 170 kilometers from the capital Ho Chi Minh City, on the Mekong Delta where its famous “floating” markets thrive along its banks.
Its population is 1.2 million residents who have benefited from strong growth (+29% GDP per capita for 2009-2010).
Can Tho has become a leading economic center and attracts large Vietnamese companies.
Can Tho gained its status as a City-Province in 2004 following the split from the Hâu Giang Province and is experiencing remarkable economic, social, and intellectual development.
The city is equipped with a large university center and a Research Center dedicated to rice cultivation efficiency.
Its humid subtropical climate makes it the rice granary of the entire country (over 50% of national production).
Today, Can Tho is looking to open up internationally to attract foreign capital necessary to support its economic dynamism. An international airport is about to be inaugurated.
