Businesses 'give advice' for Ho Chi Minh City's economic development

Photo caption — Ho Chi Minh City needs to promote administrative reform to support business development.

On the afternoon of March 6, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee held a conference to meet with representatives of many domestic and foreign enterprises operating in the area to listen to opinions, remove obstacles and find solutions to promote economic development.

The procedure is still cumbersome

Representing enterprises, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, Chairman of the City Business Association (Huba), said that according to statistics, the need to resolve administrative procedures still causes difficulties for enterprises and affects the operations of the business community. Therefore, enterprises recommend that the City consider improving and streamlining administrative procedures further in the direction of creating maximum conditions for enterprises.

“From Huba's perspective, we would like to work with departments and agencies in each field to identify difficulties, obstacles, administrative procedures that need to be removed, and procedures that need to be improved to support businesses more smoothly,” Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa proposed.

According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hoa, in reality, there are many cumbersome administrative procedures that are making it difficult for businesses, so many business records are left unprocessed for too long. In addition to improving administrative procedures, the City needs to change its working methods. Specifically, units and departments need to agree on a specific time frame when processing administrative records of businesses. The City needs to enhance the proactive role of State agencies when handling administrative procedures for businesses in a way that benefits them so that they have more motivation to invest, focus on production and contribute to the economic development of Ho Chi Minh City.

Similarly, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen, Chairman of the Inter-Pacific Group (IPPG), said that foreign enterprises agree with the orientations of Ho Chi Minh City leaders. In particular, enterprises are interested in infrastructure investment, promoting public investment and resolving bottlenecks of large projects.

To address the bottlenecks, Mr. Johnathan Hanh Nguyen proposed a series of action programs aimed at achieving an economic growth target of 8-10% in the 2025-2027 period. Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City needs to prioritize improving logistics infrastructure, focusing on completing key transport projects such as Ring Road 3 and Ring Road 4, developing waterway transport and expanding the metro network to reduce congestion, limit pollution and improve freight transport efficiency as well as serve tourism.

From the perspective of foreign enterprises, Mr. Travis Mitchell, Executive Director of AmCham in Vietnam, said that foreign enterprises always put their trust in the development of the Vietnamese economy and Ho Chi Minh City. Accordingly, US enterprises are particularly interested in improving the quality of human resources in Vietnam and always believe in the good cooperative relationship between the two governments.

"In order for the economy of Ho Chi Minh City in particular and Vietnam in general to accelerate development, the US business community recommends that while Vietnam is streamlining its administrative apparatus, businesses want a clear communication channel to receive timely information and help resolve arising difficulties. In addition, Vietnam in general and Ho Chi Minh City in particular need to focus on promoting infrastructure development. Currently, US businesses are concerned that underdeveloped infrastructure will hinder future growth. Many businesses have financial potential and are very interested in the Ho Chi Minh City market, but they have not boldly invested due to concerns about transportation infrastructure, seaports, reliable power supply and administrative issues," said Mr. Travis Mitchell.

Meanwhile, representatives of some foreign enterprises said that Ho Chi Minh City also needs to create conditions for domestic enterprises to participate in public investment projects. In particular, it is necessary to create conditions for domestic enterprises with sufficient capacity to directly participate in large projects or become satellites to support key investment projects. This not only helps domestic enterprises develop but also creates momentum for the economy, promoting sustainable growth for Ho Chi Minh City.

Committed to accompanying businesses