Addressing the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Kim Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of VNU Party Committee, VNU President said that, in 2010, VNU and Quang Ninh province signed a cooperation agreement in the field of education and training, scientific research, environmental protection, to help achieve the two sides' development goals. Over the 10 years, the two sides have been practically and effectively implemented many cooperation activities, demonstrating the social responsibility of VNU, contributing to the implementation of Quang Ninh province development strategy in preserving cultural heritages, protecting the environment and local ecosystems; especially effective was cooperation in human resources training and development, scientific research, technology and knowledge transfer.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Son emphasized that, although a large number of cooperation activities between the university and the province have been implemented, the two sides can still expand their cooperation by further effectively exploiting both parties’ potentials and needs. He highly appreciated and acknowledged Quang Ninh's commitment to the Quang Ninh Forum, professionally chaired by the two Vietnam National Universities in coordination with the two Vietnam Academies of Sciences, which will be annually held from 2021. Quang Ninh Forum is expected to be a venue for prestigious domestic and foreign scientists to discuss national and international issues.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Tuong Van, Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee said, in the coming period, the cooperation between Quang Ninh province and VNU is to be scientifically organized, in more depth and on a scale suitable for the actual local needs. In particular, the two sides will focus on building specific plans to improve high-quality human resources, training scientific staff, building and developing a number of disciplines, improving the quality of training and scientific research, etc.

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Quang Ninh province said that the current comprehensive development of Quang Ninh had been made possible with VNU’s scientists’ recommendations. The documents of Quang Ninh provincial Party Congress in the last tenure were considered to have been professionally prepared with a lot of intellectual content partly contributed by VNU’s scientists through comments and consultations.

In the spirit of innovation, creativity, development aspirations as well as the desire for more special experiences in the new decade, Quang Ninh is going to further tighten its cooperation with VNU.

In the framework of the conference, Ms Nguyen Thi Hanh - Vice Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee, representing the two parties, highlighted some outstanding cooperation results over the past time.

Based on the evaluation of the 10-year cooperation’s results, the two sides have agreed on the orientations for strategic cooperation in the coming time. Specifically, the two parties will focus on education and training, improving the quality of human resources; coordinate with and support Ha Long University in building a team of high-quality lecturers as well as improving its training quality; support to build and complete a comprehensive database system on environmental protection in the province; consult on building the Quang Ninh gazetteer; coordinate, consult and implement tourism plans, etc.

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Kim Son and Mr. Nguyen Tuong Van represented VNU and Quang Ninh province, respectively, to sign a cooperation agreement for the period of 2021 - 2025, with a vision to 2030, opening a new period of the two sides’ partnership.