HCM City hopes to establish 50 co-operatives and one co-operative union this year and push the annual growth of the collective economy to 10 per cent. – VNA/VNS Photo

HCM City is set to establish 50 new co-operatives and one co-operative union this year and hopes to push the annual growth of the collective economy to 10 percent and its contribution to the city’s economy to 0.6 percent.

The new co-operatives will be in a number of sectors including agriculture - forestry – fishery, industry – handicrafts, and transportation.

To develop the agriculture - forestry – fisheries sector, authorities will combine agricultural co-operatives and agricultural services with tourism.

The working of transport co-operatives will continue to be strengthened enabling them to expand.

To achieve the goals, local authorities have been instructed to review the number and quality of co-operatives in each sector, and help them access production facilities and hire managers and skilled workers.

The city wants the Ministry of Finance to support its co-operatives by waiving income tax and VAT on inputs provided by them to farmers and to link co-operatives across the country.

The city also wants the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to reduce land rents by 50 per cent for co-operatives and create a favourable environment for co-operatives to develop.

HCMC has set a target of having 175 co-operatives, 10 co-operative unions and 1,500 cooperative groups by 2020.

By then they will account for 1.2 percent of the city economy. – VNS