HCM City Party chief pledges pro-business measures Dinh La Thang, secretary of the HCMC Party Committee, has pledged that the city will take measures to support local enterprises to improve their competitiveness and ride out difficulties with production and trading activities.   A view of the landmark Ben Thanh Market in downtown HCMC. Thang mentioned the pro-business measures at the closing session of the committee’s sixth meeting yesterday. HCMC will map out schemes to support the development of businesses here in the city until 2020, further improve the business environment and speed up administrative reforms, he noted. The city will set up investment funds to prop up startups, encourage household businesses to convert into companies, and attract more foreign direct investment (FDI). To fuel growth in the city, the city government will mobilize domestic and foreign resources and call for public-private partnership (PPP) investments to implement seven breakthrough programs and key transport infrastructure projects. These projects are expected to shore up socio-economic development in the city and the Southern Key Economic Zone as a whole. Thang stressed the city will enhance cooperation with Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Long An, Tay Ninh, Ben Tre, and Tien Giang provinces in implementing programs to strengthen regional connectivity in the coming time. As for urban development, the city will review and adjust the master zoning plan and expand towards the northwestern region.    In the first half of this year, the city’s economy has grown remarkably. Particularly, the processing and services industries have maintained growth momentum and agricultural production has stabilized. Capital mobilization is higher than in the first half of last year and the city has seen increases in budget collections and domestic investments. As a result, the city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in January-June has edged up 7.47% year-on-year. However, some industries have cooled in the first haft of this year. Foreign direct investment approvals have fallen 35.1% year-on-year and technological applications have remained limited. Many problems relating to construction licensing and land management still exists. SGT