Ho Chi Minh City enters a new era of development

Ho Chi Minh City is facing a historic opportunity to make an economic breakthrough, not only expanding industry and trade on land, but also reaching out to the sea, conquering the sky and digital space.

Mr. Dang Minh Thong - Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee - and delegates visiting the exhibition - Photo: QUANG DINH

That was the affirmation of many experts at the conference summarizing the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum with the theme "Suggestion - Action - International Integration", organized by the City Department of Industry and Trade in collaboration with Tuoi Tre newspaper and UEH.ISB Talent School on September 23.

According to experts, after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau , Ho Chi Minh City needs more drastic strategies to accelerate, affirm its position and have the opportunity to become an international megacity.

Taking advantage of opportunities, Ho Chi Minh City will become a "three-headed dragon"

Speaking at the workshop, Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien - member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute - said that Ho Chi Minh City has new strength with a new mission. Not only combining scale, but also resonating with the strength of large economic regions, becoming an "unrivaled locomotive" in terms of potential and responsibility.

According to Mr. Thien, while Vietnam does not have a true "global competitive coordinate", Ho Chi Minh City is expected to become a leading candidate. However, to reach the level of an Asian megacity, the city needs to urgently build a new economic and institutional structure to avoid falling behind in the fierce race. The focus is on expanding the "development space", from the mainland to the sea, sky, underground, digital space and culture.

"Ho Chi Minh City has the advantage of Can Gio super port, connecting the North-South maritime routes, has the potential to develop low-level economy to solve urban traffic problems, and at the same time become a center of digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI) and creative startups based on the spirit of Southern pioneering culture," Mr. Thien affirmed.

According to Mr. Thien, the opportunities for Ho Chi Minh City are huge, but the "bottleneck of bottlenecks" is the system. Lack of autonomy makes it difficult for the city to fully exploit its potential. Therefore, to make a breakthrough, Ho Chi Minh City must switch to the mechanism of "self-determination - self-doing - self-responsibility". Because if well utilized, the combination of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau will become a "three-headed dragon", capable of positioning the city as an international megacity.

Meanwhile, according to Mr. Dinh Hong Ky - Vice President of Ho Chi Minh City Business Association (HUBA), the key advantage is the port - industry - logistics ecosystem, connecting from the urban service center to key industrial zones in the Southeast and the gateway to international deep-water seaports.

"This will be the premise for redesigning the supply chain according to global standards, instead of just locally improving each stage of transportation or customs clearance," Mr. Ky said, adding that in the "strategic triangle", Ho Chi Minh City plays the role of a center for coordinating services - finance - innovation. Binh Duong (old) is the capital of high-tech industry and ICD logistics.

Meanwhile, Ba Ria - Vung Tau (old) is a deep-water port, marine economy and renewable energy. This complementarity will transform the new Ho Chi Minh City from a "growth pole" to a "super supply chain". However, the unified urban area will only be meaningful when inter-regional infrastructure is upgraded synchronously from belt roads, highways to railways.

In order to remove "bottlenecks" and connect growth poles. In the context of global instability, Mr. Ky noted that Ho Chi Minh City's supply chain must be shorter, more flexible and greener. "The recent US counter-tariff shock is a clear reminder. We cannot just do assembly plants, but must increase the proportion of domestic value, meet ESG/CBAM standards and proactively finance the supply chain," Mr. Ky said.

Must speed up the completion of infrastructure

To form a new supply chain, according to experts, Ho Chi Minh City needs to focus on three pillars, including super-connected logistics (ring roads 3, 4 and expressways, standardizing Cat Lai - Cai Mep, developing ICD dry ports, railways and specialized infrastructure); high-tech industry and regional innovation (connecting national universities and research institutes with industrial corridors, promoting R&D, and venture capital funds).

Parallel to the free trade zone system - FTZ (priority given to Cai Mep Ha FTZ), four supplementary FTZs, digital data connection, one-stop customs, piloting e-BL (electronic bill of lading), e-CMR (electronic transport document), e-invoice (electronic invoice), green lane (priority customs clearance)...

In addition, experts believe that it is necessary to complete the legal framework for fintech, digital currency, and carbon credits. Allocate public investment capital for highways, freight railways, Long Thanh port, and the Southeast logistics corridor. Negotiate a new generation FTA to protect Vietnamese goods. At the same time, decentralize power to Ho Chi Minh City in deciding on logistics taxes, industrial land planning, and investment incentives in FTZs...

According to Mr. Dinh Hong Ky, Ho Chi Minh City needs to soon integrate port - airport infrastructure planning, form a green logistics corridor, standardize ICDs and develop aviation logistics in Long Thanh (Dong Nai).

At the same time, it is necessary to promote international cooperation on green transformation, pilot carbon tax schedules, activate financial centers, deploy trade credit packages - marine insurance, expand green capital sources and operate commodity - carbon derivatives floors for import-export enterprises.

Mr. Trinh Tien Dung - Chairman of Dai Dung Group - also said that after the merger, Ho Chi Minh City has the conditions to become a growth pole, converging advantages of population, seaports, logistics and a dynamic business community to become the leading mechanical - industrial center in Southeast Asia.

The city also has great potential in mechanical engineering, supporting industries, shipbuilding, drilling rigs, renewable energy and supporting industries. To make a breakthrough, it needs a comprehensive strategy, in-depth planning of industrial zones, integration of supporting ecosystems, automation, and clean energy. At the same time, the budget should be prioritized for technology, research and development (R&D).

Therefore, Mr. Dung proposed establishing a mechanical production alliance so that Vietnamese enterprises, especially those in Ho Chi Minh City, can increase their capacity to undertake large projects and participate deeply in the global value chain.

In addition, the city needs clean land funds, effective logistics infrastructure, preferential capital and interest rate policies, support for green transformation, prioritizing domestic mechanical enterprises in public projects, encouraging joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and technology acquisition.

"Above all, it is necessary to improve human resources from technical workers to general directors, attract high-level mechanical experts at home and abroad to help Vietnamese enterprises reach out to the world," Mr. Dung suggested.

Many visitors visited and learned at the product booths on the sidelines of the conference - Photo: QUANG DINH

Turn brilliant ideas into decisive action

Within the framework of the workshop, the organizing committee and the expert council announced the Top 10 excellent proposals that are feasible, innovative, creative and widespread, and were proposed for implementation in the coming time. These are ideas selected from more than 150 proposals submitted in two months, through many rounds of careful review.

In addition, 31 other typical suggestions were also sent to the leaders of Ho Chi Minh City for research and implementation. Representative of the voting council, Dr. Tran Du Lich - Chairman of the Advisory Council for the implementation of Resolution 98 - said that these initiatives not only demonstrate the community's dedication to the development of Ho Chi Minh City, but are also valuable intellectual resources to shape the future of the city.

On behalf of the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong - Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee - received more than 31 high-quality research papers and proposals, focusing on removing bottlenecks, exploiting new development spaces and improving international competitiveness.

"After the workshop, the city will direct the Department of Industry and Trade to coordinate with Tuoi Tre newspaper and related units to quickly systematize and provide specific advice to turn suggestions into actions," said Mr. Cuong, calling for long-term companionship from experts, businesses and people.

According to Mr. Cuong, he highly appreciated the efforts to organize the forum, considering this a timely step in the context of Ho Chi Minh City entering a new development phase after merging with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau. This merger opens up opportunities for the city to become an internationally competitive industrial - commercial - service megacity, but also poses many challenges in terms of planning, infrastructure and climate change.

With the joint efforts of the entire political system, business community and people, the city's leaders believe that the goal of turning Ho Chi Minh City into a leading economic, financial, technological and service center in Southeast Asia will soon come true.

Need to reduce logistics costs, increase business competitiveness

Talking to Tuoi Tre, Mr. Tran Quoc Bao - Deputy General Director of Kido Group, and CEO of E2E e-commerce channel - said that the urban space of Ho Chi Minh City is larger and more populous, opening up many opportunities, so the enterprise has rearranged the distribution system according to the new administrative boundaries and optimized current distribution resources to better serve this large market.

However, in addition to the advantages, businesses also face certain barriers such as the logistics system is not effective in terms of both time and cost from the stage of transporting goods and distribution. For the production stage, businesses need a convenient logistics system to supply raw materials in a timely manner at a reasonable cost and the distribution stage also needs to be accelerated to serve tens of millions of people in Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country.

"Therefore, businesses want the State to accelerate the development of transport infrastructure, reduce logistics costs and increase competitiveness for businesses as well as the entire economy. We also recommend that the government use specific policies, mechanisms and activities to coordinate with leading businesses and e-commerce platforms to establish a distribution system for Vietnamese businesses," said Mr. Bao.

In particular, according to Mr. Bao, the city needs to deploy many promotional activities using high technology, applying AI and digital transformation for businesses' promotional products to reach consumers.

Towards the image of a megacity

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc discussed with businesses and experts next to the indoor exhibition model in the shape of the Golden Turtle god - Photo: QUANG DINH

Before the closing conference of the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum, Mr. Nguyen Van Duoc - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee - had breakfast and talked with leading businessmen and experts in the field of industry and trade to listen to difficulties and problems as well as suggestions and solutions to promote the development of the city's industry and trade sector.

After more than 60 minutes of listening to opinions, he directly answered many questions, acknowledged all proposals from businesses, and expressed his desire to maintain regular monthly meetings and breakfasts with businesses and industry associations to receive more practical opinions.

"I wish to have "flocks of Vietnamese birds" that can stand shoulder to shoulder with "flocks of eagles" in the world, and to help Vietnamese businesses grow and develop to be on par with friends from all over the world, on par with international partners," Mr. Duoc shared.

According to Mr. Duoc, the Ho Chi Minh City Industrial and Trade Development Forum has gathered many ideas and dedicated experts, contributing to promoting Ho Chi Minh City to develop rapidly and sustainably, towards the image of a super city and the goal of being in the Top 100 livable cities in the world.

6 major solutions for Ho Chi Minh City from 150 suggestions and thousands of opinions from the people

At the closing conference of the Ho Chi Minh City Industry and Trade Development Forum, Mr. Bui Ta Hoang Vu - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade - affirmed 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.

According to Mr. Vu, after nearly three months of launching, the forum has recorded more than 150 research papers and thousands of opinions from the people, which have been compiled into 6 major groups of solutions. First of all, Ho Chi Minh City must quickly transform its industry from processing to value creation, focusing on biotechnology, semiconductors, smart manufacturing, and renewable energy to escape the middle-income trap.

Second, promote digital transformation and greening of industry, considering this as a command from the trend of the times. Third, create a trade foundation as an industrial circulation infrastructure, ensuring that goods are distributed quickly and effectively, becoming the "blood vessel" connecting production with the market. Fourth, remove logistics bottlenecks, invest in a multimodal system including seaports, roads, railways, airlines and inter-regional distribution centers, and promote digital transformation in trade.

Fifth, support small and medium enterprises, the "backbone" of Ho Chi Minh City's economy, not only with capital but also with network connections, industry clusters and innovation. Sixth, build high-quality human resources, including a dual vocational training model - studying at school in parallel with internships at businesses.

"The suggestions from readers and experts are valuable assets. Ho Chi Minh City will take decisive action, the city will maintain its leading role, becoming a modern, green and sustainable industrial and commercial center by 2030 and 2045," Mr. Vu affirmed.

B.MAI - N.HIEN - C.trung - N.TRI - N.VU - d.Thien

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tp-hcm-buoc-vao-dai-ky-nguyen-phat-trien-20250923230234155.htm