Taking advantage of the right advantages, Ho Chi Minh City will become a powerful 'three-headed dragon'

Ho Chi Minh City is facing a rare opportunity to rise to the stature of an international megacity, playing the role of a key growth pole of the country after administrative merger with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau.

Delegates attending the closing workshop of the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum - Photo: QUANG DINH

On September 23, at Rex Saigon Hotel, the closing conference of the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum took place, with the theme "Suggestion - Action - International Integration".

Before the event, the organizing committee had the honor of welcoming Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc to have breakfast and coffee with experts and businesses whose articles were submitted to the forum. The Chairman of the City People's Committee also received and signed the minutes of the forum's excellent articles.

The forum was launched by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade in collaboration with Tuoi Tre newspaper and UEH.ISB Talent School from July 2025.

Ho Chi Minh City needs to break through to become a modern industrial and commercial center.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Ho Chi Minh City, emphasized that the city is facing a rare opportunity to rise to the stature of an international megacity, playing the role of a key growth pole of the whole country.

In the first week after the merger, the Department of Industry and Trade coordinated with Tuoi Tre newspaper and UEH.ISB Talent School to organize a forum to gather the wisdom of experts, businesses, and people to find the driving force for industrial and commercial development in the new context.

After nearly three months of implementation, the forum recorded more than 150 research articles, suggestions and thousands of opinions from the people.

According to Mr. Vu, the organizing committee has summarized 6 major groups of solutions:

First, it is necessary to rapidly transform industry from processing to value creation.

Although expressed in many different ways, experts agree that Ho Chi Minh City cannot continue to maintain its labor-intensive, outsourcing industrial model. If it only relies on its low-cost advantage, the city will be stuck in the middle-income trap. The only way is to restructure the industry, focusing on high-value-added areas such as biotechnology, semiconductors, smart manufacturing, and renewable energy.

Second, quickly digitalize and green the industry, ensuring sustainable development. Digital transformation and greening the industry are not just slogans, but orders from the trend of the times.

Third, create a commercial foundation for industrial circulation so that commerce is not only wholesale and retail, but also needs to become a circulation infrastructure system, ensuring that the city's industrial goods are distributed quickly and effectively. Commerce must play the role of the "blood vessels" of industry, connecting production with the market.

Fourth, remove logistics bottlenecks to take off. All proposals agree that Ho Chi Minh City is the gateway to the Southeast region, so the city must become the logistics and trade center of the region. Investing in a multimodal logistics system - including seaports, railways, roads and distribution centers - is the key to reducing costs, increasing traffic speed and improving product competitiveness. This poses an urgent need for planning an inter-regional logistics center, connecting seaports - roads - railways - airlines, and promoting digital transformation in trade.

Fifth , support businesses to improve their competitiveness. Small and medium enterprises are the "backbone" of Ho Chi Minh City's economy but are also vulnerable. Supporting businesses is not only financial support, but also networking, building industry clusters, and supporting innovation.

Sixth , building high-quality human resources.

Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade - delivered the opening speech - PHOTO: QUANG DINH

Most experts also agree that human resources are the decisive factor. In particular, some experts suggest strongly developing the dual vocational training model. Workers both study at school and intern at enterprises.

Mr. Vu affirmed that the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City will listen and turn suggestions into concrete actions. "The suggestions of readers and experts are valuable assets. Ho Chi Minh City will take drastic actions, the city will maintain its leading role, becoming a modern, green and sustainable industrial and commercial center by 2030 and 2045," Mr. Vu said.

Expanding development space for Ho Chi Minh City

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, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute - affirmed that Ho Chi Minh City needs to open up new development spaces of all kinds to take advantage of technology, the times, and globalization.

Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien said that Binh Duong has succeeded despite coming later but surpassing others, from the beginning determined to compete internationally. If Ho Chi Minh City exploits its advantages well, the 3 dragons will combine to become a powerful 3-headed dragon - Photo: QUANG DINH

Along with that, the city must choose an economic structure that suits the needs of the times, and pay more attention to the world's market needs. They need to do what they need, with the spirit of being behind and surpassing the front. If they cannot surpass, they will always follow. According to this expert, to do so, the economic structure of Ho Chi Minh City needs to review what is produced, for whom, in which market, with what technology, and who can help them solve the problem.

In terms of new development space, we need to expand further. We have sea space, sky space, underground space, cultural space, digital space... Among them, many spaces have not been exploited, the potential is still very large. There is no urban area that does not take advantage of underground space because it is not congested, safe...

"With Can Gio super port, I propose this port as a departure port from the South to the North. In a few years, if we can promote and exploit the port cluster in the new Ho Chi Minh City, its positive impact on the economy and its stature will be enormous, not inferior to any port in the world," Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien emphasized.

Experts also believe that Ho Chi Minh City - the "locomotive" of the country's economy - is facing the biggest institutional bottleneck: limited authority, lack of space and initiative for innovation. While the economic scale has increased many times over in 15-20 years, the management mechanism is still slow to innovate, making it difficult for the city to make a breakthrough.

To fulfill its mission, Ho Chi Minh City needs a mechanism of self-determination, self-implementation and self-responsibility. Lessons from Binh Duong show that if it takes advantage of its advantages, Ho Chi Minh City and other "dragons" can join forces to become a powerful "three-headed dragon".

Ho Chi Minh City breaks through to become the leading mechanical and industrial center in Southeast Asia

Mr. Trinh Tien Dung - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dai Dung Construction Mechanical and Trading Joint Stock Company - presented a paper on the orientation of industrial development in Ho Chi Minh City in a new space with neighboring cities.

Mr. Trinh Tien Dung - Chairman of Dai Dung Group, said that the mechanical engineering and heavy industry play a key role in production autonomy, national defense - security and large-scale global infrastructure projects.

Vietnam is emerging as a new manufacturing hub in Asia thanks to its political stability, competitive costs and business development policies; in which Ho Chi Minh City, along with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, are the growth poles and economic locomotives of the country.

According to Mr. Dung, the city has a large population, a seaport-logistics ecosystem, a dynamic business community and potential for innovation, all of which are qualified to become a regional mechanical and industrial center. Ho Chi Minh City can produce mechanical engineering, heavy industry, and supporting industries, replacing supplies from developed countries; and at the same time, develop shipbuilding, drilling rigs, renewable energy, and supporting industries.

To realize this, Mr. Dung proposed:

Overall strategy for Ho Chi Minh City's mechanical industry, planning specialized industrial zones, integrating support - automation - clean energy.

The mechanical manufacturing alliance aims to connect, increase competitiveness, deeply participate in the international value chain, encourage joint ventures, M&A and technology transfer.

"It is necessary to strongly connect with FDI enterprises and global industrial corporations, deeply participate in international value chains, and have a roadmap to gradually increase the localization rate for FDI enterprises," said Mr. Dung.

Support policies: preferential clean land fund, inter-regional logistics infrastructure, reduced transportation costs, capital and interest rate incentives, R&D, green transformation and streamlined administrative procedures. In particular, public bidding should prioritize domestic mechanical enterprises, increasing the localization rate.

Besides, the city also has advantages to develop the production of products from mechanical engineering, heavy industry, light industry, and supporting industry to play a role in replacing suppliers of developed countries today.

"The bidding policy prioritizes domestic mechanical enterprises in public projects, increasing the localization rate to have the opportunity to participate in supplying projects," Mr. Dung emphasized.

Regarding human resources, Mr. Dung said that it is necessary to train human resources, from high-tech workers to CEOs in the mechanical field, to improve management, project management and business. At the same time, the city also needs to offer incentives and attract high-level mechanical experts at home and abroad to develop with Vietnamese enterprises.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tan-dung-dung-loi-the-tp-hcm-se-thanh-rong-ba-dau-manh-me-20250923095846403.htm