The multifaceted cooperation between Ho Chi Minh City and the Central Highlands region needs to be revised in order to enhance its effectiveness, the Steering Committee of the Central Highland Region announced.

The committee acknowledged that the cooperation between HCM City and five provinces in the Central Highlands – Dak Lak, Dak Nong, Lam Dong, Gia Lai and Kon Tum – has driven socio-economic development in the Central Highlands over the last 14 years.

The cooperation has helped HCM City diversify its economic sectors and investments, thus boosting the city’s role as an economic hub, the committee said.

Over 200 enterprises from HCM City have been involved in 287 projects in a number of fields, from tourism to mineral resource extraction, with a combined investment capital of nearly 68 trillion VND (3.12 billion USD).

In addition, the city provided more than 70 billion VND for these provinces to build schools, health centres, electricity and road infrastructure, as well as houses for impoverished ethnic minority households in remote areas.

The committee, however, said the cooperation faced limitations, mostly due to the lack of a clear development strategy. It therefore has yet to create a common sustainable path of development for HCM City, the southern key economic region and the Central Highlands region.

In order to increase the effectiveness of socio-economic cooperation programmes, the committee asked the five provinces to provide more information on the different cooperation programmes, so that the involved organisations, agencies and individuals understand the context and carry out their tasks accordingly.

The provinces were also requested to review their cooperation programmes, revise them if necessary and draw up specific action plans.

An inter-regional and regional roadmap on how to effectively implement socio-economic cooperation and coordinate related programmes will be submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.-VNA