On June 5, 1911, Ho Chi Minh left Nha Rong Wharf on the Saigon River to find a way to save the country. After the Vietnam Communist Party was established, Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, became a staunch base of the Vietnamese revolution. The resistance war against colonialists and imperialists commenced in the city and continued till the successful General Offensive in spring 1975. It can be said that the Ho Chi Minh era led by the Party and the man himself wrote the most glorious page in the city’s history, and inspired the people to take the lead in the national defence and construction process. The city’s heroic and dynamic tradition has been fostered by many generations to add strength to the city’s sustainable development.

As the largest city and a major economic, cultural, scientific and technological centre, Ho Chi Minh City provides an international link and plays an important role in the country’s political, economic and cultural spheres. The city’s solutions for recent socio-economic issues have provided significant lessons for other localities and helped confirm its position and role in southern Vietnam and the entire country.

In the decade between its liberation in 1975 and 1985, the Party Committee and people in Ho Chi Minh City launched many initiatives to remove obstacles due to the bureaucratic centralised mechanism of economic management to accelerate economic development and stabilise and improve people’s lives. These moves established a practical foundation for the Party to formulate guidelines for the national renewal process, which were introduced at the 6^th National Party Congress in 1986.

Ho Chi Minh City’s leading role in national economic development has been asserted and clearly seen over the last 20 years of the national renewal process. Before 1975, it was a consumer city with a fragmented economy heavily dependent on foreign countries. It has so far become a major economic hub in the country, with an expanded area and a population accounting for 6.6 per cent of the nation. The city has contributed to the country’s export turnover nearly 40 per cent, to the national budget, 30 per cent, foreign investment, 30 per cent, and the country’s GDP, 20 per cent. People’s living standards have been improved. GDP per capita in 1976 stood at only US$215, and has now reached US$1,900. The city has played a key and dynamic role in the economic development of the southern key economic area, and contributed 58.3 per cent to the regional GDP.

Currently, the city’s service sector makes up more than 80 per cent of the servicing value of the entire southern key economic area. It is also the country’s largest domestic and international trade hub. The city accounts for 27 per cent of the retail and service turnover, 30 per cent of exports, 43 per cent of transport, storage and telecommunication services, 32 per cent of hotels and restaurants and 37 per cent of the financial and credit activities of the entire country.

The city has developed real estate services to accelerate the urbanisation process for sustainable development. First priority has been given to the development of services, particularly high-quality services to assist industrial production in the city and the entire southern key economic area. This is the municipal Party Committee’s correct policy on economic restructuring.

HCM City is the country’s largest industrial centre. Industrial production made up 56.7 per cent of the city’s GDP, 50 per cent of the southern key economic area, 30 per cent of the country’s industrial value and 46 per cent of the city budget. Currently, the city’s industries have produced about 100 products to serve, first of all, the domestic market. Some products occupy a large share of the national market, for example, condensed milk, cigarette, detergent, cloth, beverage, garment and leather wear, chemical products, mechanical products, and electronic appliances. The city expects to increase the ratio of major products in the city’s GDP to 20 percent and industrial products for export, excluding crude oil, to 75-80 percent of the city’s total export turnover by 2010.

During the war, the city’s rural suburban districts were subject to heavy land and air attacks. According to statistics, after the war about 1,000 bomb craters of different sizes remained in each hectare of land in the outlying district of Cu Chi. About 100,000ha of land on the outskirts of the city was abandoned. However, since 1975, rapid changes have taken place in the city’s rural areas. Although the rural economy makes up only 1.7 per cent of the city’s GDP, it secures the lives of 1.7 million farmers.

The municipal Party Committee and authorities at all levels have been very concerned with investing in agricultural, rural and farmer development in the current national renewal process. The urbanisation and industrialisation process has acquired large areas of farmland. That is why the city has made the most of its industrial, servicing, and scientific and technological strengths for agricultural and rural development. Suburban districts have shifted to ecological and high-tech agriculture to meet the needs of the city’s urban development strategy and secure sustainable eco-environment.

As a result, investment in and profit from a hectare of farmland in the district is higher than those in other localities. Over the last four years, the city’s shrimp breeding areas have increased by 191 per cent and aqua-culture value by 796 per cent. The milk-cow herd has increased from 25,000 to 50,000 heads, accounting for 60 per cent of the country’s cows. As income from cow breeding is twice that of pig breeding, the beef-cow and mother-cow herds have increased rapidly. Recently, the city has established nursing centers to supply seedlings, calves and piglets to southern provinces, considering this a correct direction for its suburban agriculture restructuring programme.

Ho Chi Minh City has made the most of its favourable geographical and historical conditions to become the regional center and integrate in regional and world economies. Economic restructuring and efforts to make its products more competitive are the focus of its global economic integration process. The city has implemented a number of programmes such as “Providing scientific and technological assistance to modernise businesses at a low cost and make them more competitive”, and “Assistance to the establishment of 1,000 brands” have helped local businesses prepare for effective integration into the global economy.
Currently, the city’s 19 industrial parks have attracted 800 foreign businesses with a total legal capital of more than US$13 billion. Tan Thuan is one of the most successful export processing zones in Southeast Asia.

To facilitate the global integration process and strengthen export and import activities, in addition to policy improvements, the city has invested in infrastructure development, particularly the sea-port network. Saigon has been an international harbour for centuries. Currently, it receives 60 per cent of the volume of import and export goods from the southern key economic area. Hundreds of millions of US dollar have been invested in the harbour improvement to increase its loading and unloading capacity to 16 million tonnes a year. However, to meet the needs of urban transport restructuring, Saigon port is being gradually relocated to a new place far from the city center, which is being constructed in Hiệp Phước, Nhà Bè district.

Meanwhile, socio-cultural issues have also captured the attention of the city’s leadership. HCM City initiated and has effectively implemented campaigns on poverty reduction, building affection and solidarity houses for the poor and policy beneficiaries, taking care of war martyrs’ mothers known as “Heroic Vietnamese mothers”, and other activities. These models have been replicated nation-wide.

In the framework of these campaigns, the city has built 10,000 affection houses and 12,000 solidarity houses. Currently, there are no hungry or poor households under the country and the city’s poverty lines. Since 2004, the city has raised the poverty line to meet that of regional countries and applied it to both urban and rural households. Healthcare, educational and cultural budgets have been increased by between 16.9 per cent and 23.9 per cent annually. Rural districts have kept up with urban areas in education and expect to popularise secondary education by 2007. Healthcare and medical doctors have been operating in all precincts, districts, communes and wards.

The secretary of Ho Chi Minh City’s Party Committee, who is also a Party Political Bureau member, Nguyen Minh Triet attributed these successes to people’s efforts. He said the municipal Party Committee is aware of the people’s power so it has inspired and promoted their great potential in the city’s development process. The people are dynamic and creative in economic activities and effectively participating in social movements to display Vietnam’s fine cultural tradition.

In the spirit, “For the entire country and joining the entire country”, the municipal Party Committee and people will make further efforts to renew and restructure the city’s economy to deserve the name of Ho Chi Minh and the title of being a major economic hub and driving force behind the national development.