Authorities, economists and businesses in the city and other central localities took part in the workshop. — Photo VGP

DA NANG (Biz Hub) — A workshop was held in this central city last Saturday to discuss ways for localities to increase competitiveness even as Viet Nam undergoes economic restruction and ASEAN integration.

Authorities, economists and businesses in the city and other central localities took part in the workshop.

Nguyen Dinh Thien, head of the Institute of Economics, said that to help enterprises find the right way for development and accelerate economic restructuring, a high-level institutionalised market economic zone should be set up in HCM City while special economic zones should be established in three strategic areas: northern Quang Ninh Province's Ha Long-Van Don, southern Kien Giang Province's Phu Quoc Island and the southern coastal province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

Thien also stressed the need to swiftly revise the State Budget Law and other relevant laws to ensure reasonable fund allocation to localities.

Vo Duy Khuong, vice chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee, said the citynow had 15,000 businesses, 99 per cent of them small- and medium-scale.

Khuong revealed that so far this year, an estimated 1,200 enterprises in the city had to either shut down or temporarily stop operations because of gloomy market conditions and the lack of production capital.

He reported that the city has carried out practical measures to support local businesses, adding that in the future, Da Nang would focus on developing more big businesses, with priority given to the fields of tourism, services and high technology.

Based on a pending city project on enterprise development by 2020, the city aims to raise the number of businesses by 10 per cent and create jobs for an additional 31,000 people every year. — VNS