From May 24 to May 26, 2019 within the framework of the project “The spiritual heritage of Ho Chi Minh. 50 years later”, as well as the larger events of the Cross Years of the Russian Federation in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the Russian Federation St. Petersburg hosted the Days of Ho Chi Minh City for the first time.
The extensive program of events was opened by the negotiations of the Vice Governor of St. Petersburg Nikolai Bondarenko with the representatives of the Vietnamese delegation led by Member of the Central Party Committee, First Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Comrade Chan Lu Quang, during which the parties discussed participation in the events of the “Cross Year”, whose organizing committee includes St. Petersburg, as well as prospects for the development of bilateral cooperation.
The central event of the program was the conference in the Nevsky Town Hall, in the framework of which an agreement on cooperation between the cancer center in the village of Pesochny and the Cancer Hospital of Ho Chi Minh City was signed. Also people who made a special contribution to the development of relations between two twin cities were rewarded.
A tourist seminar "Development of cooperation between St. Petersburg and the city of Ho Chi Minh" was held at St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "City Tourism Information Bureau". The seminar was attended by representatives of the Committee for Tourism Development of St. Petersburg, SPb GBU "GTIB" and LLC "Air Gate of the Northern Capital". From the Vietnamese side seminar was attended by the director of the Department of Tourism of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, comrade Bui ta Hoang Wu, the deputy general director of the Saigon-Tourist General Company, comrade Wo An Tai, and the director of the tourism promotion center of the Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Department, comrade Le Chong Hien Hoa.
According to the representative of ''Air Gate of the Northern Capital'' LLC, the opening of a direct flight to Ho Chi Minh City, which is currently at the negotiation stage, will have a fruitful effect on the development of the tourism industry in both countries. Participants of the meeting paid particular attention to this issue.
In addition, a business forum with the participation of Russian and Vietnamese businessmen, a festival of Vietnamese national culture and cuisine, as well as the opening of a Vietnam literature booth at the St. Petersburg International Book Salon were held.
At the end of the visit, flowers were laid at the Ho Chi Minh monument at St. Petersburg State University.
Since 1977, almost from the very moment of being named after the first president of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City and St. Petersburg are twin cities. In recent years, as part of a comprehensive and strategic partnership between Russia and Vietnam, St. Petersburg has significantly strengthened ties not only with this city, but also with other partners in this country - the city of Haiphong and the province of Khanh Hoa.
In 2018, within the framework of the Russian-Vietnamese cultural and business forum and the international conference dedicated to the 95th anniversary of the arrival of Nguyen Ai Quoc (Ho Chi Minh) in Petrograd, the Government of St. Petersburg and the Ho Chi Minh People’s Committee signed a roadmap for developing cooperation until 2020 year.