A discussion on cooperation frameworks for a new era was held in Ho Chi Minh City on October 28 as part of the Autumn Economic Forum 2026. The meeting focused on assessing capabilities, identifying barriers and finding solutions to help Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City seize new growth drivers in a changing world.
Challenges and prospects for Vietnam
Devendra Jain, Senior Manager for Advanced Manufacturing and Supply Chains at the World Economic Forum, said Vietnam has built a strong growth model. The country has become a major manufacturing hub, an investment destination and an increasingly interconnected economy. It now needs to move beyond simply building connections and become a smartly connected economy.
Jain said Vietnam’s competitiveness will depend on how effectively factories, seaports, supply chain networks, roads and industrial parks work together. He stressed the role of smart infrastructure, which combines physical infrastructure, connectivity, data and artificial intelligence to improve productivity, resilience and investment appeal.
According to Jain, Vietnam’s priorities and Ho Chi Minh City’s master plan to 2050 point to two urgent opportunities for smart infrastructure. The first is to connect factories, logistics providers, inland warehouses and seaports along export corridors. The second is to develop shared smart infrastructure for small and medium-sized enterprises, including digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence tools, data standards and cybersecurity services that factories and businesses can access jointly.
Jain said Vietnam needs to act urgently to seize the transformation of smart infrastructure and move towards higher-value segments of global value chains. He added that the World Economic Forum is ready to support pilot projects by connecting the Government and businesses with global expertise to turn opportunities into practical action.
Speaking about Vietnam’s challenges and opportunities in the new era, Denis Depoux, Global Managing Director of Roland Berger, said the presence of major manufacturing and technology companies from China and the US has made Vietnam an important link in global value chains. The country’s export structure has improved significantly, with electronics and machinery accounting for nearly 60% of exports, up from 37% in 2016.
He said Vietnam needs capital as well as higher productivity, greater efficiency and better performance in public services, State-owned enterprises, private businesses and foreign-invested enterprises.
Based on his analysis of Vietnam’s economic strengths and development challenges, Depoux proposed seven recommendations. They included expanding the corporate bond market to 20% of GDP from the current 10–11%, securing an investment-grade sovereign credit rating to attract investment capital and adopting asset recycling models to unlock funds from existing assets for reinvestment.
He also called for closer integration of real-world manufacturing with digital and artificial intelligence technologies to build smart manufacturing value chains, stronger domestic and international connectivity, and the development of supply chain finance hubs. Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang could become financial centres for supply chains. Low-carbon standards should also form the basis of the competitiveness of Vietnamese exports.
Proposed development model for Ho Chi Minh City
Prof. Dr Truong Quoc Cuong, a member of the Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation Subcommittee under the Ho Chi Minh City Development Research Board, discussed opportunities to connect the city’s existing resources into an integrated smart innovation ecosystem with international competitiveness. He said the city aims to achieve double-digit GRDP growth driven by science, technology and innovation.
Drawing on Ho Chi Minh City’s current situation, Cuong proposed a technology corridor comprising six specialised but complementary functional poles within a shared value chain. They would focus on knowledge, high technology, advanced manufacturing, innovation and finance, global logistics, and the green and maritime economies. Six flows would support the corridor: knowledge and human resources, technology, capital, innovation, logistics, data and global connectivity.
Alongside proposals for an integrated innovation governance framework and an implementation roadmap, Cuong recommended strengthening coordination mechanisms, incorporating the corridor into the overall master plan, transforming high-tech parks into science parks, establishing financial connectivity mechanisms, developing logistics and digital infrastructure, accelerating the green transition, shifting from attracting foreign direct investment towards promoting technology spillovers under appropriate conditions, and actively pursuing international cooperation and technology diplomacy.
Cuong said Ho Chi Minh City needs to transform its growth model towards one driven by science, technology and innovation, moving from isolated functional zones to an interconnected regional corridor. Its success will depend on effective regional coordination, close cooperation among stakeholders and proactive international engagement.
Sources: VietnamPlus / Vietnam News Agency
