All business houses should have equal access to city resources, regardless of their size, type or industry, deputy chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s (HCM) People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Phong said at a conference in. The city will create favourable conditions and develop a sound investment environment by amending or creating policies to help businesses overcome challenges and take advantage of new opportunities, Phong informed. Phong said startup activity and improvement of competitiveness will be strongly supported by the city. Ideas from enterprises and investors would be welcome as this would help the city and its departments solve social and economic issues. Representatives from companies from different sectors who were present at the conference spoke about ways to help the business community.

Vu Duc Giang, Chairman of the Vietnam Garment and Textile Association opined that the city lacks skilled textile and dye workers, creating challenges for the industry. The shortage of raw material suppliers in the city was another obstacle. He proposed that the city should create a stable regulatory system to help businesses develop.

In recent years, HCM City has worked to create a more favourable investment environment. At present, 180,000 companies operate from HCM City accounting for 31.7 per cent of the total number of companies in the country.