HCMCity (VNS/VNA) - The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City hasapproved a policy that would help attract experts and scientists, particularlyin the fields of IT, biotech, logistics, nanotech, and the support industry, inthe 2018-20 period.

The city aims to attract experts who can helpdevelop high-tech zones, economic zones and industrial zones.

The city will develop a recruitment plan and setup a consulting team that will be responsible for selecting the most suitableexperts to ensure that all the selected experts have enough ability to help thecity develop its projects most effectively.

Under the policy, the city will provide initialsubsidy of 80 million VND to 100 million VND (3,500 to 4,300 USD) to each scientistand expert after they sign a contract.

They will receive a monthly salary based on thecoefficient used to calculate the pay of senior experts under Decree 204/2014.

Experts and scientists who are professors willbe paid at a coefficient of 9.4, while the others will be paid at a coefficientof 8.8

In addition, experts and scientists will receivean allowance of 50 million VND to 1 billion VND per person per researchproject.

The city authority will also provide housing orsupport 50 percent of the rent (up to 7 million VND per month) for the expertsand scientists.

Nguyen Van Hau, Chairman of the HCM CityCommercial Arbitration Centre, said that besides salaries and allowances, thecity must improve the working environment and create networking opportunitiesfor experts and scientists.

The city’s current policies on attracting highlyskilled professional have resulted in the hiring of only 15 experts between2015 and 2017, five of whom are foreigners. Currently, only 10 of these expertsare working.-VNS/VNA