Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Nguyen Van Duoc met Managing Director of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Stephan Mergenthaler on the sidelines of the 2026 Autumn Economic Forum on October 28. They discussed ways to strengthen cooperation with the southern metropolis.
Duoc thanked Mergenthaler for attending the third Autumn Economic Forum and praised the WEF’s support and cooperation, which helped the forum achieve initial results and fulfil its objectives.
Duoc said the 2026 forum, themed around the convergence of new growth drivers, connects Vietnam with the international community, businesses with one another, and businesses with authorities.
He said the presentation of membership certificates of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Ho Chi Minh City (C4IR) to 10 founding members, together with investment registration certificates for 10 projects worth billions of US dollars, was the clearest evidence of the forum’s success.
Through a message delivered by Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, Vietnam affirmed that it is not only a destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), but also a partner for cooperation and investment, he said.
Ho Chi Minh City hopes the WEF will continue promoting this message among the global investment community. It also expects the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos, Summer Davos in China and the Autumn Forum in Vietnam to form a more comprehensive and deeper ecosystem.
Mergenthaler expressed his pleasure at returning to Ho Chi Minh City for the 2026 forum, praised its scale and atmosphere, and expressed confidence in the city’s development prospects.
He also highlighted Prime Minister Hung’s keynote speech and described the forum’s continued positive development as a meaningful milestone in the city’s ambitious vision for the future.
The WEF is keen to maintain cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City through C4IR and other joint activities, making practical contributions to the city’s development goals, he said.
Mergenthaler invited the city’s leaders to attend the WEF Annual Meeting in Davos in January 2027 alongside Vietnamese Government leaders. He said the meeting would mark the long-standing partnership between the two sides.
Regarding the city’s proposal to coordinate the 2027 Autumn Economic Forum with the 2027 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting, which Vietnam will host in Phu Quoc, Mergenthaler affirmed the WEF’s readiness to provide support. This would include connecting and convening high-level meetings within the APEC framework.
He said such coordination would offer an opportunity to build on the cooperation model developed by Ho Chi Minh City and strengthen relations between the city and the WEF, as APEC attracts considerable international attention.
Sources: VietnamPlus / Vietnam News Agency
