On the morning of October 15, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee organized a conference summarizing the first nine months of 2026 associated with driving double-digit economic growth, implementing investment projects, and stimulating demand in Ho Chi Minh City.
Attending the conference and delivering directive remarks, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Tran Luu Quang welcomed the results achieved by the city over the past nine months. He assessed that one year after the first congress of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee for the 2025-2030 term, Ho Chi Minh City has step-by-step implemented a huge, revolutionary workload, such as implementing Politburo Resolution 09, the Law on Urban Development, reorganizing administrative apparatus, and stably operating the two-tier local government model.
According to him, the city has clearly shaped three main development pillars: developing within a new scale and stature; focusing on definitively handling long-standing bottlenecks and issues; and performing social security well while taking substantive care of residents' lives. He emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City's 2026 growth target must reach double digits. "If we think we cannot do it, we will never succeed, but if we believe we can, our opportunity is immense," the Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary stressed, reiterating that to achieve the full-year growth target, the fourth quarter needs to grow by 13.23 percent.
The Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary analyzed that the fourth quarter is usually the period with the highest growth rate of the year. Furthermore, with a contribution scale accounting for about 23.4 percent of national GDP, if Ho Chi Minh City drops by 1 percent in growth, the pressure placed on the remaining provinces and cities will be extremely heavy.
He added that the Government has granted Ho Chi Minh City many outstanding specific mechanisms not only for the city to surpass itself, but also for the city to take action, shoulder shared responsibility with the country, and build momentum for 2027.
Identifying that the biggest bottleneck lies not in a lack of resources but in releasing and exploiting resources, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary requested the entire city political system to think differently, act differently, and eliminate formalistic reporting approaches.
To achieve the 2026 growth target, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary outlined five operational principles. The first step is to determine substantive contributions with specific quantitative figures for each industry and block, clearly specify coordinating lead units and cooperating units to achieve overall results.
He requested backup plans to proactively respond to any situation. Fourth-quarter solutions, though starting now, must create a sustainable foundation for 2027 and subsequent years.
Highlighting specific tasks, the Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary requested focusing on public investment disbursement, resolving lingering project bottlenecks, and promoting private investment. He noted a major contributing sector that requires total focus during the year-end shopping season, that is consumer spending and tourism stimulus.
He suggested an integrated "five-in-one" program chain comprising shopping, entertainment, tourism, e-commerce, and digital payments, while also proposing research into consumer credit mechanisms via e-wallets and expanding local shopping campaigns.
The Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary stressed that double-digit growth tests not only the strength of the city's economy, but also the leadership, management, execution, and organization capacities of the political system alongside business participation.
The Ho Chi Minh City Party Secretary informed that the Standing Board of the Party Committee will hold biweekly working sessions with the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to hear reports on three core topics including double-digit growth, public investment disbursement, and budget collection.
He affirmed that the city will not evaluate officials through promises, but will judge organizations and individuals by final results and substantive transformations.
