Ho Chi Minh City has pledged to improve its business climate and become a trustworthy and promising investment destination for foreign investors, Secretary of the municipal Party Committee Le Thanh Hai told investors during a meeting in the city on March 4.

To that end, he asked the agencies concerned to accelerate the reform of administrative procedures, partly by adopting technological advances to speed up processing time, while simultaneously holding additional dialogues with the business community and suggesting possible incentives.

The southern metropolis is set to launch a business licensing e-platform, cutting processing times to 5-10 days, and the delivery of investment certificates by postal service, according to Director of the municipal Department of Planning and Investment Thai Van Re.

Participants asked for further incentives in infrastructure, taxation, customs, human resources, land and accommodation.

Vo Quang Hue, a representative from the European Chamber of Commerce, vowed to assist the city in upgrading its infrastructure and training a high-calibre workforce.

In 2014, the city attracted 3.26 billion USD of FDI capital, including 2.88 billion USD poured into 457 new projects.

The FDI sector exported 11.2 billion USD worth of goods, or 38.4 percent of the city’s total shipment, during the year.

By late 2014, the city recorded 5,310 valid FDI projects with 36.28 billion USD in capital.-VNA