Russian and Vietnamese capitals drawing closer together

Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Vice-Chairman of the Hanoi People's Municipal Committee Nguyen Quoc Trieu intend to sign a cooperation program between the two capitals for the period until 2005. The signing ceremony will be held on Thursday during the Days of Hanoi that will be held in Moscow between July 4th and 9th.

Trieu said at a press conference on Wednesday that the program will include a whole series of promising directions of economic, social and cultural cooperation between the two capital cities. This, in part, includes strengthening of municipal ties, the use of new technologies in various spheres of the municipal economy (water supplies, the sewerage system, transport, city ecology, cleaning of streets, etc., personnel training, cultural exchanges and a number of other directions).

During the meeting with Luzhkov, the representatives of the Hanoi delegation also intend to discuss prospects for cooperation between the two capitals in spheres like the fuel and power complex, production of building materials, machine-building, construction of automobile roads, railways and bridges, and the agro-industrial complex. It is envisaged to examine the possibility of building in Moscow a major wholesale market of Vietnamese goods.

The subject of cooperation in the sphere of communications and mass media will also be dealt with.