Historic opportunity for Ho Chi Minh City to become a global megacity

The 1st Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2025 - 2030, has a special mark when the City enters a new development phase after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau. With a strategic vision, Ho Chi Minh City aims to become an international megacity, a leading innovation center in the region, worthy of being the economic, cultural, scientific - technological locomotive of the whole country and aiming for the group of 100 most livable cities in the world.

Ho Chi Minh City has the opportunity to become a global megacity.

  Opening up historic opportunities

After the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has an area of ​​6,773 km², accounting for 2.04% of the country's area; the population reaches more than 13.6 million people, accounting for 13.4% of the national population. The labor force is up to 7.28 million people, equivalent to 14% of the country, which is a huge human resource foundation for breakthrough development. In addition, the economy of Ho Chi Minh City has just recorded impressive figures: GRDP reached 2.97 million billion VND (equivalent to 120.8 billion USD), accounting for 23.6% of the country's GRDP.

Excluding oil and gas in Ba Ria - Vung Tau , this figure still reaches 2.82 million billion VND, accounting for 22.3%. GRDP per capita reaches 8,244 USD, 1.74 times higher than the national average. The City's budget revenue reaches 681,000 billion VND, equivalent to 33.4% of the total national budget revenue, while budget expenditure accounts for only 10.4%.

The cultural life of Ho Chi Minh City people is increasingly improved.

Not only is the fiscal “pillar” of the whole country, the City is also the driving force of foreign trade with import-export turnover reaching 179.3 billion USD, accounting for nearly 23% of the whole country; of which, export reached 89.4 billion USD, import 89.9 billion USD. Total social investment capital reached 631.8 trillion VND, accounting for 17% of the whole country; retail sales of goods and services reached 1,683 trillion VND, accounting for more than 26%.

In the Draft Political Report of the 1st Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress, term 2025 - 2030, Ho Chi Minh City also emphasized that the merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau is a historic turning point, opening up opportunities to restructure the development space, forming a special administrative - economic entity, converging all advantages in industry, seaports, logistics, services, finance, tourism and science and technology. This is the premise for the City to form a multi-center "international megacity" model with five pillars: industrial - logistics center, international financial center, tourism and cultural industry center, education - health - science and technology center and creative development special zone.

Two-level government activities are helping people save time and money. Photo: Manh Linh/Tin Tuc Va Dan Toc Newspaper

However, the challenges facing Ho Chi Minh City in the new term are also pointed out: Unsynchronized infrastructure, lack of high-quality human resources, environmental pollution, rich-poor gap, urbanization pressure and climate change. In addition, with fierce competition in attracting investment, the requirement to ensure energy security, network security and preserve cultural identity requires Ho Chi Minh City to transform its growth model, improve competitiveness and develop in a sustainable and inclusive direction.

Ho Chi Minh City also focuses on socio-economic development, environmental protection in the new term in association with building a clean and strong Party. In particular, the people are also affirmed to be the subject and center of all new guidelines and policies of the Party, State and Government. People's happiness and satisfaction are the measure of the governance effectiveness of the political system...

Traffic projects in Ho Chi Minh City are being accelerated to develop the regional economy.

According to Mr. Tran Luu Quang, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, after the merger of 3 localities, the new apparatus of the City has begun to operate and recorded many positive signals, although there are still difficulties due to the large number of establishments, some cadres are not familiar with the new working method and there are changes in personnel at all levels. Regarding personnel work, the City will implement important adjustments based on the principle of selecting people for the job, promoting democracy, listening to collective opinions and especially resolutely avoiding conservatism in leadership thinking.

“The merger of three localities is not only a simple administrative event but also opens up a historic opportunity to create synergy. Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau will develop together on the basis of sharing resources, connecting infrastructure, connecting markets and promoting comparative advantages, thereby enhancing competitiveness and affirming the position of an international megacity in the region,” affirmed Secretary of the City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang.

Technological breakthrough, people-centered development

Sharing about the orientation of socio-economic development in the new period, Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, emphasized that the City will focus on key tasks, in which science - technology, innovation and digital transformation are considered the main driving force to promote growth. According to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, all policies and guidelines of the City must affirm the central role of the people, taking the satisfaction and happiness of the people as a measure. Therefore, the two-level government apparatus will continue to be streamlined, operate more effectively, aiming to best serve the needs of the people and businesses.

Ho Chi Minh City's economy is showing signs of improvement after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau from July 1, 2025.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc, to realize the goal, the City needs to build a science and technology strategy associated with life, in which each research project and each digital transformation application must bring practical benefits to the community. The City will prioritize the implementation of specialized innovation centers, support small and medium enterprises to apply technology, and expand international cooperation to access financial resources and advanced technology. In particular, Ho Chi Minh City will build a creative ecosystem, in which people are the center, technology is the tool, innovation is the driving force for sustainable development.

Mr. Lam Dinh Thang, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Ho Chi Minh City, also said that the City has significant potential with a vibrant startup ecosystem and a large team of scientists from schools and institutes in the Southern key economic region. Since the beginning of 2025, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee has issued an Action Program to implement Resolution 57-NQ/TW, considering science - technology, innovation and digital transformation as one of the top strategic breakthroughs.

The city has also completed a system of preferential policies on tax and finance, attracting high-quality human resources, supporting patent registration, and organizing innovation competitions. These policies are now inherited and expanded in the new development space after the merger, promising to create a strong driving force for the city to make a breakthrough in the coming period.

Delegates attending the Ho Chi Minh City Party Congress visited metro line 1 on the morning of October 12.

Accordingly, in the new term, Ho Chi Minh City will strongly mobilize social resources to invest in science and technology, innovation and digital transformation. One of the key solutions is to build innovative urban areas associated with research and training centers, creating a connecting environment between universities, research institutes and businesses, thereby accelerating the application of research results to production and life.

The city also aims to form a network of key laboratories, data centers and open artificial intelligence platforms to serve the needs of exploiting big data for urban management and the digital economy. Along with that, the government will strengthen regional linkages in technology development, sharing research infrastructure with neighboring localities, in order to create a common innovation space for the entire Southern key economic region. Policy testing mechanisms (sandboxes) in the fields of fintech, healthcare, and smart education will also be deployed to encourage technology startups and expand the market.

In particular, the City focuses on improving digital capacity for the community, popularizing information technology skills and creative startups for young people, helping science and technology truly become a tool to serve people, towards the goal of building a civilized, modern and livable Ho Chi Minh City.

The 1st Congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, term 2025 - 2030, will take place over 3 days, from October 13 to 15, with a preparatory session on October 13, an official session on October 14 and the morning of October 15. Before that, on October 11 and 12, delegates will participate in pre-congress activities, including visiting typical works and socio-economic, defense and security models of the City.
The Congress convened 550 delegates from 173 affiliated Party Committees, with the motto "Solidarity - Democracy - Discipline - Breakthrough - Creativity". The Congress has the task of reviewing and evaluating the results of the 2020 - 2025 term, and at the same time setting out directions, goals and solutions for the 2025 - 2030 period, emphasizing the construction of the City to become an international megacity, a leading innovation center in the region, worthy of being the economic, cultural, scientific - technological locomotive of the whole country and aiming for the group of 100 most livable cities in the world.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/co-hoi-lich-su-de-tp-ho-chi-minh-tro-thanh-sieu-do-thi-toan-cau-20251012120209441.htm