HCMC - Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has emphasized the crucial role of HCMC in the growth and development of the southeastern region and the country as a whole.

The leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam was speaking at a working session held in HCMC today, September 23, to look into the city’s social and economic performance, defense, security and Party building following the city’s 11th Party Congress and the 13th National Party Congress. The meeting was part of his working visit to HCMC, where he worked with the HCMC Party Committee’s Standing Board and senior officials of the city. He told the National Assembly, Government, ministries and agencies to quickly work with HCMC over its proposals and requests to deal with major hindrances to the city’s development. Having outstanding potentials, high attractiveness and strong competitiveness, the southern city should boldly proceed with further reform and make stronger effort to create a stronger driving force for the southeastern region and the country as well to gain more growth, he noted. He added that to successfully make strategic breakthroughs and tackle bottlenecks in terms of regulations, infrastructure, and human resources, the city should further promote economic restructuring in combination with growth model change. The city needs urban infrastructure breakthroughs and a mass transportation system, as well as solutions to deal with environmental problems, climate change and rising sea levels, he said. He ordered the city to continue reform, improve education and training, develop human resources, especially high-quality ones and those for leadership and management positions, facilitate development of science, technology and knowledge economy to support fast and sustainable development, and consolidate the healthcare network at all levels. According to a report delivered by the city’s Party Committee at the working session, the city has made impressive achievements on multiple fronts since the social distancing order was lifted late last year. The city posted economic growth of 3.82% in the first half of this year, and expects to attain 9.71% growth in the first nine months. Foreign trade, services, and tourism, and foreign investment have also improved faster than expected. The city has lured US$2.91 billion in new FDI in the year to date.