At the meeting, the Ambassador was pleased to note that it was only after a little more than half a year since his first trip to Thua Thien Hue Province and to Hue University in February together with the representatives of the consulates, the organizations and enterprises currently doing business in Vietnam, the two sides have not only developed their relationship but also tightened the Vietnam-German network in Hue. Specifically, on the morning of September 29, the Ambassador attended the inauguration of the project “Conservation and restoration of the gate, front screen and pond of Phung Tien Temple combined with the advanced technique training at Hue Imperial City” implemented by Hue Monuments Conservation Centre (HMCC) and Society for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, Fulda (GEKE) mainly funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany via the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Hanoi and Thua Thien Hue Provincial People’s Committee via HMCC. The goal of the project is to renovate the landscape of the garden, architectural works and reduce the desertedness in the Complex of Hue Monuments, specifically to preserve and restore Phung Tien Complex. In addition, there will be intensive technical training on the conservation and restoration for 06 craftsmen of restoration companies from Hue and HMCC who will be awarded professional certificates after the training course so as to support the restoration workforce of the province. This is the fifth project supported by the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Cultural Preservation Program for Hue Imperial Monument Complex.

The second concern of the Ambassador is to faciliate German language teaching at University of Foreign Languages, Hue University, providing language learning opportunities for Hue University's qualified lecturers to pursue their study and research in Germany through cooperation programs.

At the reception, Assoc.Prof.Dr.Nguyen Quang Linh, President of Hue University, affirmed the well-established relationship between Hue University and German organizations and universities. Through the scholarships programs of Vietnam Government and DAAD, many managers and lecturers from Hue University pursued their study and did their research in Germany and on their return to work, they were highly appreciated, especially in Medicine, Pharmacy, Agriculture, Forestry, natural sciences, etc. At present, Hue University is participating in a number of capacity building programs and projects within the Erasmus programs funded by the European Union, including cooperation with many German universities in the fields of technology transfer, international cooperation, exchange of lecturers, students, and graduate students, etc. In the future, Hue University would like the Ambassador to assist in the development of joint exchanges and researches in medicine, healthcare, renewable energy with the goal of sustainable development in Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, etc.

Mr. Stefan Hase Bergen, Director of Regional DAAD Representative Office in Hanoi, affirmed the potential for cooperation between DAAD and Hue University. Both sides will continue to explore and develop sustainable cooperation plans, ideas for the development of international training programs, research and exchange of faculty and students.

On the same day, the Ambassador and the delegation attended the first Vietnamese-German Alumni Talk in Hue with the theme "Natural Resource Management and Use in Climate Change; Lessons from Reality". This is an activity within the framework of the international workshop series "Land-use/Land-cover management with respect to ecosystem services" organized by University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University in collaboration with German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The talk was attended by agronomists and geographers from the University of Göttingen, Germany, Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, China and Vietnam.

This is a central theme in the cooperation between Vietnam and Germany for many years, and in the cooperation between the University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University and the University of Göttingen, Germany. Lessons learned in dealing with the challenges of sustainable resource management with different perspectives are shared and discussed by the German and Vietnamese speakers. 

The Ambassador and the delegation planted commemorative trees in the campus of University of University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University.

Translated by Thanh Huong