A bright future for Ho Chi Minh City after the merger was raised by economic expert Pham Chi Lan (former Vice President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry) at a talk show of Dan Tri newspaper with the theme "50 years of unification - Aspiration to rise up".
This future is drawn with the existing strengths of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau , which, according to economic expert Pham Chi Lan, if properly promoted, will create great development momentum.
According to Resolution No. 60 of the 11th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee, the Central Committee agreed on the policy of rearranging provincial-level administrative units nationwide to 34 units, including 28 provinces and 6 centrally-run cities.
In which, the Central Government agreed to merge Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, Binh Duong province and Ho Chi Minh City; named Ho Chi Minh City, the political - administrative center is located in Ho Chi Minh City.
Regarding Ho Chi Minh City, economic expert Pham Chi Lan commented that in recent years, especially since the National Assembly granted it a special mechanism for development, Ho Chi Minh City is reorienting its development very reasonably.
"I think the idea of turning Ho Chi Minh City into an international financial center is completely correct and appropriate, and perhaps every Ho Chi Minh City in the country can do that," said Ms. Lan, reaffirming that if Vietnam wants to have an international financial center, it must be Ho Chi Minh City.
Ms. Pham Chi Lan believes that the economic locomotive of the country is a place with enough human resources and all the necessary conditions to form this center. Of course, besides that, it will also be necessary to prepare many more factors such as training and building an ecosystem so that the international financial center can operate.
In addition, from the expert's perspective, Ho Chi Minh City is increasingly demonstrating its strength in focusing on training high-quality human resources. The training quality of universities in Ho Chi Minh City in terms of economics, engineering, management and human resources is improving very well, with connectivity so that workers have the opportunity to study for life, to study continuously to excel.
The medical system and health care, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, has become one of the service sectors that the whole country is interested in, and according to Ms. Lan, Ho Chi Minh City is the place with the most advanced medical development in the country. This is demonstrated by the increasing number of foreigners coming to Ho Chi Minh City for medical treatment, even overseas Vietnamese in developed countries are returning to Ho Chi Minh City for medical treatment, proving that the level and capacity in the medical field of the largest city in the country is at an international level.
Ms. Pham Chi Lan sees this as a huge advantage of Ho Chi Minh City.
Regarding the trend of focusing on breakthroughs in science and technology development, Ms. Lan commented that HCMC has been doing a lot of things in attracting investment to develop high technology. In fact, most of the best startups for young people in Vietnam are in HCMC, according to Ms. Lan.
Along with that is the attraction of overseas Vietnamese who have technology, skills, markets, and good relationships to develop new industries, also mainly concentrated in Ho Chi Minh City. Giving a practical comparison, Ms. Lan said that the attraction of Ho Chi Minh City High-Tech Park is much greater than that of Hoa Lac High-Tech Park in Hanoi.
With the above strengths, plus the merger of Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, economic expert Pham Chi Lan commented that all three places have strengths that can resonate and promote.
Regarding Binh Duong, Ms. Lan shared her impression that the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) is always at the top in attracting foreign investment, thanks to the well-functioning mechanism here and the ability to attract. Up to now, Binh Duong is still one of the places with the highest PCI index and the best ability to attract investment.
Through observation, Ms. Lan commented that Binh Duong is making adjustments in attracting investment and development orientation. Instead of using cheap labor as before, the locality is attracting more and more high-tech projects with higher added value.
Regarding Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the economic expert assessed that this place has good strengths in infrastructure, seaports and some other economic sectors, especially tourism.
When Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau merged into the new Ho Chi Minh City, this was truly a great model for the new development orientation that the whole country is aiming for, which is developing the digital economy, green economy, and circular economy.
"When merging, I have a great hope that the new HCMC will be a Singapore or a Shanghai of Vietnam in the future. HCMC alone is not enough, but when combined with the strength of Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, it will definitely be possible," Ms. Lan expressed her strong belief in this.
She also believes that with this direction, the new economic locomotive of the whole country, Ho Chi Minh City, will contribute to the country's goal of becoming a high-income developed country by 2045.
Dr. Nguyen Huu Nguyen (Vietnam Urban Planning and Development Association) also believes that after merging Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, the new administrative unit will inherit the strengths of the three previous localities to continue to maintain its position as the economic locomotive of the country.
In which, Ho Chi Minh City has strengths in economy and services, Binh Duong is one of the industrial production centers of the country, Ba Ria - Vung Tau has advantages in seaports and many other great potentials.
"When arranging administrative units, the higher the compatibility, the more perfect the operating apparatus will be, increasing capacity compared to before," Mr. Nguyen commented.
He also noted that there will be a delay between the completion of the arrangement and the time when the machine operates perfectly, and there will be challenges to overcome. However, the expert emphasized that this is necessary to create momentum for the new era.
Of course, to achieve this goal, Ms. Pham Chi Lan emphasized that institutional innovation is needed, because this is the "bottleneck of bottlenecks", as General Secretary To Lam has commented. In fact, Ms. Lan believes that even the application of the special mechanism that the National Assembly has granted to Ho Chi Minh City also has bottlenecks; attracting investment in high technology also has bottlenecks, not only in the thinking but also in the "not yet innovative" behavior of grassroots officials.
Having just attended a workshop to announce the 2024 business law flow report, the female economist said she was startled to see all the difficulties that still exist for businesses.
For example, a domestic investor under the current Investment Law must complete 15 procedures to invest, which takes an average of 1-2 years, with some projects taking 3-4 years.
"In this era of rapid change, in terms of markets, technology, and policies of other countries, such as the US tariff policy, how can we do it? By the time we get the license, the opportunity is gone," Ms. Lan said sadly.
In fact, the expert believes that institutional problems still lie in many different ministries and sectors. Therefore, she hopes that the current institutional reform, which the General Secretary calls a revolution, will help to gradually resolve institutional problems.
According to Ms. Lan, the General Secretary has clearly stated the viewpoint that we must completely abandon the mindset of "if you can't manage it, then ban it" and resolutely abandon the "ask - give" mechanism. These are currently two very big bottlenecks that are hindering the development of many places, including Ho Chi Minh City.
Ms. Lan believes that when merging, localities will develop better, have larger economic scale, help localities create new development space and supplement and support each other for mutual development.
"Everything can be ready, but we still need a really good and strong mechanism, along with recruiting good and dedicated officials to take on positions, working for the common development aspirations of the country," Ms. Lan expressed her opinion and suggested that we need to know how to exploit both domestic and foreign resources, because we have a valuable resource of overseas Vietnamese who can return to contribute to the development of the country.
Looking back at the great achievements of Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country on the threshold of the new era, Dr. Nguyen Huu Nguyen assessed that the GDP growth rate is the clearest achievement proving the efforts of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and the whole country in general since the country's reunification.
Besides, according to Mr. Nguyen, Vietnam has increasingly gained prestige and voice in the international arena, as the late General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong commented that, "our country has never had such a foundation, potential, position and international prestige as it does today."
Having held a leadership position in the locality, Mr. Pham Chanh Truc, former Deputy Head of the Central Economic Commission and former Standing Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, reiterated the position of Ho Chi Minh City as the industrial center of the South in the past and the economic locomotive of the whole country at present.
Looking back 50 years after the country's reunification, according to Mr. Truc, Ho Chi Minh City has played a particularly important role in restoring the country's economy, contributing important practices to the Party's innovation policy.
However, Mr. Truc said that Ho Chi Minh City and the whole country still have a lot of work to do to create the necessary stepping stone to enter the new era. One issue that worries him is that our country has not escaped the middle-income trap.
"Our per capita income has increased from about 100 USD in the early years of renovation to more than 4,500 USD now. That is a huge change, but not enough to escape the middle-income trap. To overcome the middle-income level, the Government is setting a target of the whole country growing at over 8% this year and double digits in the following years," the former leader of Ho Chi Minh City acknowledged that this is a huge challenge.
The Resolution of the 13th Party Congress sets the goal that by 2045, our country will become a developed industrial country with high income (about 20,000 USD/person). This is a very difficult goal, but if it is not achieved, our country will fall behind the world, according to Mr. Truc.
"Science and technology are developing very quickly, if we move slowly we will be left behind. Our country has a lot of potential and advantages. After 40 years of innovation, we have not escaped the middle-income trap because we have not fully exploited this potential," Mr. Truc commented.
He cited that up to now, Vietnam has not developed modern agriculture but mainly small-scale production, and cooperatives are not strong enough. Developing agriculture on a small scale leads to difficulties in having resources to apply science and technology and transform production models on a large scale.
In the industrial sector, domestic production still relies mainly on traditional industries and foreign-invested enterprises. Meanwhile, domestic high-tech and new-tech industrial enterprises are still limited and not really competitive enough.
Therefore, to move towards an independent and self-reliant economy, according to Mr. Truc, it is necessary to strive according to the new development directions set forth by the Party and State.
From an expert perspective, Ms. Pham Chi Lan said that we have come up with a very correct orientation for a new growth model, typically Resolution 57 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science and technology development, innovation and national digital transformation has determined that development must be based on technology.
Regarding the economic structure, the expert also emphasized the need to reshape because even though we identify agriculture as the foundation of the economy, we do not have a modern agriculture, while the potential for development based on this sector is still very large. And when agriculture is transformed, it will create great conditions for transforming other sectors.
Regarding industry, according to Ms. Lan, we must abandon the path of following the cheap labor market, create new advantages through science and technology, and accept focused investment in industries with higher added value.
Ms. Lan expects that technology in the coming time will be a major factor contributing to the development of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and the country in general.
"Resolution 57 has clearly identified the role of technology in development. Since the previous Congress, in addition to the three strategic breakthroughs of institutions, human resources, and infrastructure, technology has also been identified as a key factor. This time, I hope that technology will be a major factor, along with education and training to create people who can master new technology.
We are gradually identifying new growth drivers, but more importantly, we are aiming for sustainable development - not only quantitative growth but also comprehensive quality, including environmental protection, resource saving and application of new technology," said Ms. Pham Chi Lan.
Content: Hoai Thu, Q.Huy, Nguyen Hai
Photo: Bao Quyen
Design: Tuan Huy
Dantri.com.vn
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/xa-hoi/tphcm-moi-se-xung-tam-voi-singapore-thuong-hai-20250501120044409.htm
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