Ho Chi Minh City: Breaking through to become the leading industrial and commercial center in the region

At the closing workshop of the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum with the theme "Suggestion - Action - International Integration" held on the morning of September 23, Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, said that the city is facing a rare opportunity to enter a period of development with the stature of an international megacity, playing the role of a key growth pole of the whole country.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, said that after 3 months of implementing the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum, the organizing committee has identified 6 major groups of consultants.

Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: Ministry of Industry and Trade)

One is to quickly transform industry from processing to value creation. Two is to quickly transform digitally and greenly to ensure sustainable development. Three is to build commerce into the circulation platform of industry.

Fourth, remove logistics bottlenecks to take off. Fifth, support businesses to improve their competitiveness. Finally, build high-quality human resources.

From the above suggestions, Mr. Vu believes that Ho Chi Minh City's industry and trade can only make a breakthrough when led by a comprehensive, synchronous strategy and decisive action today.

From a business perspective, Mr. Dinh Hong Ky, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Business Association, commented that after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City will transform from a "growth pole" into a "super supply chain" with a strategic triangle: Ho Chi Minh City (coordination of services - finance - innovation), Binh Duong (high-tech industrial capital, ICD logistics) and Ba Ria - Vung Tau (deep-water port, marine economy, renewable energy).

Mr. Dinh Hong Ky emphasized that a unified urban area is only truly meaningful when inter-regional connections are upgraded synchronously, such as beltways, highways, and railways, to relieve "bottlenecks" and pull growth poles together.

Experts at the workshop proposed many important solutions. Firstly, the city needs to quickly transform the industry from processing to value creation, restructuring the industry to focus on high value-added areas such as biotechnology, semiconductors, smart manufacturing, renewable energy. At the same time, promote digital transformation and green industrial transformation to ensure sustainable development.

Second, build a commercial foundation into a traffic infrastructure system, ensuring that the city's industrial goods are distributed quickly and effectively. Third, remove logistics bottlenecks to "take off", reduce costs, increase traffic speed and improve product competitiveness. The city needs to plan an inter-regional logistics center, connecting seaports - roads - railways - airlines, and at the same time promote digital transformation in trade.

In addition, experts also said that the city needs solutions to support the improvement of competitiveness for businesses, especially small and medium enterprises. This support not only focuses on finance but also on networking, building industry clusters, and supporting innovation. High-quality human resources are also a driving force that needs to be considered for Ho Chi Minh City to achieve its development goals.

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, Member of the Prime Minister 's Policy Advisory Council; Member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, said that Ho Chi Minh City needs to open up new development spaces of all kinds, taking advantage of technology, the times and globalization. He emphasized that the city has many untapped development spaces, with great potential such as logistics, sea space, sky space, underground space, cultural space and digital space. Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Dinh Thien especially proposed Can Gio super port as a departure port from the South to the North.

Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, highly appreciated the very practical and important suggestions for the city. He said that these suggestions not only contribute to solving the city's bottlenecks but also effectively promote new opportunities and development space.

Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, sent five recommendations to the city's leaders, including building a new Ho Chi Minh City Industrial Strategy to 2045, reforming institutions and improving trade capital flows, promoting multimodal logistics investment, a digital transformation and greening program for small and medium-sized enterprises, and promoting connectivity in the Southeast region.

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc expressed his wish that Vietnamese enterprises would rise up and develop to international standards, standing shoulder to shoulder with the "eagles" in the world. He affirmed that the forum had gathered ideas and dedicated experts to help Ho Chi Minh City develop rapidly and sustainably, striving to become a megacity and be in the top 100 livable cities in the world.

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc talks with experts before the conference (Photo: Organizing Committee)

In parallel with the workshop, a space displaying typical products of Ho Chi Minh City enterprises also took place at Rex Hotel. 33 booths displayed various industries such as technology, mechanics, food - beverage, rubber - plastic, textile, logistics - seaport, trade services and supporting technology. This event is an opportunity for businesses to connect and trade, introduce products and advanced technology solutions, contributing to promoting the development of Ho Chi Minh City's industry and trade.

Source: https://thoidai.com.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-but-pha-thanh-trung-tam-cong-nghiep-thuong-mai-hang-dau-khu-vuc-216494.html