A corner of Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – Experts proposed a number of measures to improve thequality of growth and competitiveness of the economy in Ho Chi Minh City at aseminar on June 23.
According to Professor, PhD Nguyen Trong Hoai, Vice President of the Universityof Economics, said the southern metropolis should promote effective andinnovative economic models while targeting long-term goals by making efficientuse of resources such as technology, infrastructure and institution.
Simultaneously is improving performance management (including activities whichensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficientmanner) by using information and communication technology for publictransactions as well as investing in human resources.
The city needs to expand connectivity and development space via improvinginfrastructure networks for satellite urban areas, restructuring production andbusiness, and training highly-skilled workers for sectors that the city hasbeen and will prioritise to develop.
Professor Nguyen Thi Canh from the Center for Economic and Financial Researchunder the University of Economics and Law held that it is necessary to focus onsuch factors as investment capital, investment structure, high-quality labourtraining, and market development to increase the total factor productivity(TFP) for economic growth.
She suggested attracting investment in intensive development projects and pushingahead with technological reform. At the same time, it is important to havepolicies to support more effectively capital for small-and-medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs).
The southern economic hub should also prioritize hi-tech investment projects toreduce labour-intensive industries, she added.
She highly recommended the development of support industries and other keyindustrial sectors towards improving investment efficiency and reduction ofimport costs.
She also suggested building a coordination mechanism between enterprises,administrative agencies, training facilities, universities, colleges andvocational training centers to improve the quality of human resources.
PhD Luong Van Khoi from the National Centre for Socio-Economic Information andForecast under the Ministry of Planning and Investment highlighted the privateeconomic sector; institutional reform and business environment; andscience-technology and labour productivity as core contributors to the city’seconomic growth.
Therefore, the city needs specific strategies and policies to increaseproductivity for businesses and build a global value chain with majorenterprises playing the leading role, he proposed.
Another solution is enhancing the connectivity between HCM City and proximatelocalities to expand development potential and optimise advantages of the wholeregion, experts suggested.
Local authorities should propose a mechanism to boost connectivity in thesouthern key economic region – which HCM City will play a central role in termsof finance, high technology and trade.
The application of this mechanism will help the city and other southernlocalities to build a value chain of goods, especially industrial andagricultural products.
Secretary of of the municipal Party Committee Nguyen Thien Nhan said theprogramme to improve growth quality and economic competitiveness is one of theseven breakthrough programmes of the city to meet the demand of integration in2016-2020.
He added that there are still a lot of resources for the local development suchas land, scientific and technical staff, and the capital attraction capacity.
HCM City maintained annual average growth of 8.2 percent in 2015-2017,according to Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment SuNgoc Anh. -VNA
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