The emergency meeting, held outside of regular working hours and attended by the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and leaders of various departments and agencies, demonstrated a serious spirit and high level of focus in immediately receiving and activating new specific mechanisms and policies.
More importantly, the course of action was established from the outset: early implementation, clear assignment of tasks and responsibilities, and specific deadlines. This approach is even more significant given that the revised Resolution 98 contains many unprecedented provisions, such as free trade zones, attracting strategic investors, and urban planning and development based on the TOD (Transit-Oriented Development) model. The revised Resolution 98 will take effect from January 1, 2026, and the fact that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee convened an emergency meeting to detail each task for each department and agency, with specific timelines, clearly demonstrates a commitment to working diligently, quickly, and thoroughly to achieve tangible results, rather than waiting for "the process to be complete and procedures to be followed."
That after-hours meeting thus sent a consistent message: the amended Resolution 98 is a tool to create results, not just an "additional" institutional layer. Superior mechanisms, if not promptly concretized with implementation plans, assigned responsibilities, and progress monitoring, will struggle to demonstrate their value in practice. Especially with groundbreaking policies like free trade zones – which demand new governance thinking, new standards, and high organizational and implementation capacity – delays mean missed opportunities.
This action-oriented message is closely linked to the overarching requirement in the leadership, guidance, and management of Ho Chi Minh City's leaders in recent times: to promote a proactive, proactive, and responsible political system, and to end the mentality of avoidance and seeking advice whenever difficulties arise. Especially in the current context, this is not just a general reminder of public service responsibility, but also stems from the practical realities of governing a leading metropolis, with the requirement for responsibility commensurate with its new development space.
Because the city has been granted broader powers. However, if there is still a fear of responsibility, apprehension about complex issues and unprecedented content, then these superior mechanisms will not be able to realize their value. In reality, when the management mindset shifts to proactiveness, Ho Chi Minh City achieves clear results. In 2025 alone, the city resolved over 600 out of 838 long-standing, stalled projects, thereby unlocking over 800 trillion VND that had been "frozen" for years. This result demonstrates that bottlenecks lie not only in institutions, but also in the capacity and courage to implement policies.
Currently, the amended Resolution 98 opens up new development opportunities while placing Ho Chi Minh City before a new demand for administrative discipline and operational efficiency. To ensure commitment to action and tangible results, the core principle that must be upheld is using results as the evaluation criterion. In particular, the payment of additional income up to 1.8 times the basic salary must be closely linked to the implementation results of the amended Resolution 98, through indicators such as project progress, efficiency of public investment disbursement, and especially the level of satisfaction of citizens and businesses.
Resolution 98, as amended, was passed, reflecting the central government's trust in the city. The slogan "The whole country for Ho Chi Minh City" not only empowers the city but also conveys expectations. And "Ho Chi Minh City for the whole country" must be reciprocated with results such as high growth rates, greater contributions, and the dissemination of effective governance models.
In that sense, the emergency meeting of the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, attended by the Standing Committee of the People's Committee and leaders of various departments and agencies, which lasted until late at night, also served as a strong signal of the city's pioneering commitment to the nation. It demonstrated a determination to act and continue to uphold the tradition of dynamism, creativity, boldness in thinking and doing, and a willingness to take responsibility as a leading urban center, meeting the expectations of the Central Government and the people of the entire country.
Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/trach-nhiem-dac-biet-truoc-co-che-dac-thu-post828575.html
