Ho Chi Minh City has greatly contributed to the country's economicreform of the last three decades, a conference heard in HCM City onApril 14.

Speaking at the conference – held to review the city'sachievements during the 30 years of economic reform – head of PartyCentral Committee's Commission for Popularisation and Education Dinh TheHuynh said HCM City has a great deal of experience in economic reformto share with other localities.

Le Thanh Hai, the city PartyCommittee Secretary, said a range of economic sectors play vital rolesin the city's socio-economic development.

The city has recordeddouble-digit economic growth for nearly 20 years now, and its annualincome per capita has reached 5,000 USD, he said.

The publicsector plays a central role, he said, but added that it should only"facilitate the market instead of playing the role of the market."

ThanThi Thu, head of the HCM City Party Committee's Commission forPopularisation and Education, said the city has achieved manybreakthroughs while overcoming challenges in the last 30 years.

It has created a legal framework for many business models, she said.

In1989 the city issued a decision regulating many models of privatebusinesses, limited companies, and joint-stock companies to createfavourable conditions for the private sector's development, she said.

Afterthe establishment of limited companies and joint-stock companies, thecountry's first export processing zones and industrial parks as well asthe stock exchange were established in HCM City.

The city alsodeveloped programmes such as those to exchange land for infrastructure,socialise infrastructure, and improve the administration to serve thepublic better, which many other localities learnt from and followedsuit, she said.

It not only taught the entire country lessons insocio-economic development but also ushered in the concept of urbanmanagement under the market mechanism, she said.

HCM City hasfaced a lot of challenges during the process of economic reform likelack of economic competitiveness, infrastructure that could not keep upwith economic growth and the demand for improvement in people's welfare,and the widening gap between the rich and the poor, Thu said.

The country and city are now facing many other hardships in the process of globalisation.

Otherchallenges include the ineffectiveness of public spending that hasplagued the city for a long time, the worsening budget deficit, andtransfer price abuse for tax evasion by foreign firms, which has becomeharder to check.

Half of foreign businesses in HCM City declarelosses, Thu said. Many have reported losses for many years running, butcontinue to thrive, she said, adding that this creates unfaircompetition for local firms.

Other speakers referred to a majorproblem: the failure of the country, especially the city, to take fulladvantage of available resources.

The country is divided intothree key economic zones in three distincts, but they lack linkages orco-operation, and fail to tap their potentials.

Hai said the city needs to take more drastic measures to improve the socialist-oriented market economy.

Huynh said democracy is another issue that many delegates discussed at the meeting.

Many suggested that the democratic mechanism should be discussed more seriously at other forums.

Huynh called on the attendees to mull over the issues and send their opinions to the Central Theoretical Council.-VNA