Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, speaks at the meeting. (Photo: SGGP)

This shows that production and business activities remain fruitful.

The People's Committee of HCMC on January 9 held a meeting to implement the tasks of socio-economic development in 2021 with the attendance of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong, Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Committee of HCMC; Ms. Nguyen Thi Le, Deputy Secretary of HCMC Party Committee, Chairwoman of the People's Council of HCMC; Mr. Nguyen Ho Hai, Deputy Secretary of HCMC Party Committee.

Many bright spots in economic development

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Phong happily shared that amid the difficult and challenging context of 2020 caused by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the resistance of the city’s economy was affirmed by many highlights in economic development.

The economic growth of HCMC was 1.39 percent compared to the same period. All three sectors, including service, industry, and agriculture, had positive growth; exports exceeded US$43 billion; foreign investment attraction surpassed $4.3 billion; overseas remittances reached more than $5.5 billion. Last year, the city had more than 40,000 newly-registered enterprises, with a total registered capital of more than VND1.1 quadrillion.

Besides, HCMC had more than 8,300 enterprises resumed operation, an increase of 21 percent year-on-year. It collected nearly VND371.4 trillion of budget revenue, reaching 91.5 percent of the estimate.

‘The proportion of domestic revenue in the total budget collection in the period from 2016 to 2020 increased from 62.1 percent to 71.45 percent. This shows that the production and business activities remain fruitful,’ he assessed.

Moreover, urban planning, embellishment, and development have continued to improve, creating an increasingly modern urban appearance. Cultural activities were carefully organized, appropriately with the situation of the pandemic, achieving many results relating to the theme for 2020 of “Year of boosting cultural activities and building urban civilized lifestyle".

Especially, the outbreaks of Covid-19 had been timely controlled within three to 15 days. The city had successfully cured 143 Covid-19 cases and is treating eight ones, and there are no deaths.

According to Mr. Phong, that was an extremely important achievement, showing the city's ability to respond quickly and timely and the effective participation of both the political system and citizens.

He emphasized that up to now, the city has achieved the dual goals of preventing the pandemic and maintaining economic growth.

The head of the HCMC government affirmed that the dynamism, creativity, and leadership of the city continued to be proved as many major policies that had been approved by the Government. They are the National Assembly's Resolution No.131 on the organization of urban administration in HCMC and Resolution No.1111 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on the rearrangement of the district and commune-level administrative units, and the establishment of Thu Duc City under HCMC. This is a crucial premise for HCMC to implement the tasks of socio-economic development with better results in the coming time.

Mr. Phong said that 2021 is a very important year. This year, the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Election of Deputies to the National Assembly and the People's Councils of all levels will take place. It is the first year to implement the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Party, the Resolution of the 11th Congress of the HCMC Party Committee, and the five-year socio-economic development plan for the 2021-2025 period. At the same time, it is also the first year to implement the National Assembly's Resolution No.131 on the organization of urban administration in HCMC and Resolution No.1111 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on the rearrangement of the district and commune-level administrative units, and the establishment of Thu Duc City under HCMC.

In that context, the city determined the theme of 2021 as "Year of building an urban administration and improving the investment environment". At the same time, it will continue to carry out the dual goals set by the Government, focusing on controlling well the Covid-19 pandemic, and effectively deploy economic recovery programs in all sectors and fields.

Mr. Phong emphasized that the city would focus on ensuring the progress of 49 contents, programs, and projects in three breakthrough programs on management innovation, infrastructure development, and human resource and cultural development, and a key program on the development of enterprises, innovative start-ups, and key products. HCMC will also promote innovation, creativity, and digital transformation, pay attention to urban design to serve urban planning management and investment in building synchronous infrastructure.

Clearly defining the time limit and responsibility in handling documents of people and enterprises

At the meeting, Mr. Vo Van Hoan, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of HCMC, presented a brief report on the socio-economic situation in 2020 and introduced the tasks, solutions, and work program for 2021.

He informed that to implement the theme of 2021 of "Year of building an urban administration and improving the investment environment", the city has identified 20 major targets for the year. To fulfill the task of developing sectors and fields, it has put forward nine groups of solutions. In which, the city focuses on effectively implementing the theme of 2021.

In building urban administration, HCMC will build and promulgate regulations on the order and procedures for appointment, dismissal, transfer, rotation, secondment, commendation, sanction, and suspension from work of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the People's Committee of districts; Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the People's Committee of wards; the Head and Deputy Head of the specialized agencies under the People's Committee of districts.

HCMC will promulgate regulations within its competence to implement urban administration, hierarchize, and specifically authorize local governments of wards, districts, and the city under HCMC following the organization of urban management and the practical capabilities of each locality.

Especially, the city will study specific mechanisms and policies to develop Thu Duc City and submit them to central agencies for approval. It will build a professional and modern team of officials and civil servants in the urban administration apparatus.

Mr. Hoan emphasized that HCMC dignified the responsibility of leaders at all levels, departments, and industries in solving difficulties for enterprises, proactively build plans to improve the business and investment environment, enhance competitiveness, especially administrative reform related to the investment of organizations and enterprises.

Supporting and serving businesses must meet the following requirements: a time limit for administrative procedures and document processing; clearly defining the organizations and individuals who perform their responsibilities in handling the documents; the participation and contribution of opinions of organizations and enterprises; the supervision of the People's Council and the Fatherland Front; reward and punishment and application of information technology in administrative reform, Mr. Hoan requested.

This year, the city also actively calls for and promotes investment promotion activities in projects under the Smart City Project, the Project on the establishment and development of a creative and highly interactive urban area in the East of HCMC, and projects on transport infrastructure, anti-flooding, healthcare, education, and logistics, and key industries of the city.

As for solutions to carry out dual goals of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic and effectively implementing economic recovery programs, Mr. Hoan informed that HCMC would deploy the second support package for enterprises affected by the pandemic. At the same time, it would accelerate the development of the domestic market, actively support Vietnamese supporting industry enterprises to develop and participate in the production chains of multinational corporations, domestic and international assemblers. The city will also focus on in-depth industrial development, especially the sectors, fields, and stages with high contents of science, technology, and added-value based on the foundation of high technology and the digital economy.

Along with that, the city will focus on implementing four breakthrough programs to develop HCMC, with 51 subprograms and subprojects. The city will also speed up innovation, creativity, and digital transformation, develop and promote the application of 5G and post-5G technology in urban management.

Among solutions to promote urban design for urban planning management and investment in building synchronous infrastructure, HCMC will focus on synchronously investing in transport infrastructure, strongly developing the logistics industry, solving effectively urgent problems that the city has been facing, such as traffic congestion, flooding, environmental pollution, and waste treatment.

SGGP

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