HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City has achieved positive results in theimplementation of its collective economic model, with an increase in the numberof cooperatives and their quality, according to the municipal People’sCommittee.

Speakingat a meeting on September 24 to review 15 years of implementing the PartyCentral Committee’s resolution on continuing to reform, develop and improve theeffectiveness of the collective economy, Le Thanh Liem, Vice Chairman of the municipalPeople’s Committee, said the numbers of cooperative groups, cooperativesand unions of cooperatives have increased significantly over the past yearsto reach 2,097; 612; and 6 by the end of last year.

Theyoperate in various sectors, including services and trading, transportation,environmental hygiene, agriculture, industry, craft, and credit, he said.

Over thelast 15 years the city's collective economy has asserted its key role insocio-economic development, he said.

“Thenumber of cooperatives and unions of co-operatives with working capital in thehundreds of billions and thousands of billions is rising. Many have expandedacross the country and export their products to many markets.”

However,there are still limitations in developing the collective economy, he said.

Most cooperativesare small with limited funds, lack business strategies, have poor managementcompared with other economic sectors, and are disadvantaged in the integratingeconomy, he said.

In thenext decade the city would focus on developing the new-style cooperative model,he said.

In 2021-2030,HCM City targets the setting up of 300 cooperatives and five unions ofco-operatives, he said.

Thesector is expected to achieve annual growth of 7 percent, account for 0.6 percentof the city’s economy, and create 30,000 jobs each year, he said.

Toachieve these targets, the city will implement a number of measures such asincreasing the capital of the City Cooperative Member Support Fund to 2trillion VND (86 million USD) by 2030.

It willcontinue to connect credit organisations and cooperatives, provide training tocooperative managers and help promote their products and improve theirtechnologies.

NguyenThien Nhan, Secretary of the HCM City Party Committee, said land and capitalare two difficulties faced by cooperatives for a long time. These have not beenresolved satisfactorily, making it hard for the collective economy to achieve adevelopment breakthrough.

Therefore,departments and sectors need to advise the People's Committee and theDepartment of Planning and Investment to make five-year plans for collectiveeconomic development in each sector, including agriculture, transportation,environmental hygiene, credit funds, housing and others.

Theyshould come up with solutions for difficulties faced by cooperatives related tothe use of agricultural land and borrowing from banks for production, buyingmachinery and building facilities, he said./.