The number and quality of co-ops in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, has increased, according to a report from its local authority, known as the People’s Committee.
The growth was reported at a recent meeting, held to review 15 years of a resolution on continued reform, development and improvment of the city’s collective economy.
Lê Thanh Liêm, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee, said the number of co-operatives and co-operative unions had increased significantly – and that the city’s collective economy had played a key role in its socio-economic development.
Co-ops operate in various sectors, including services and trading, transportation, environmental hygiene, agriculture, industry, craft, and credit, he said.
“The number of co-operatives and co-operative unions with working capital in the hundreds of billions and thousands of billions is rising. Many co-ops have expanded across the country and export their products to many markets.”
But there are still barriers to the development of the collective economy, with many small co-ops lacking funds and business strategies – and being poorly managed compared with other economic sectors.
In his address, Lê Thanh Liêm set a target for the creation of 300 new co-operatives and five co-operative unions from 2021-30, while expecting the sector to achieve an annual growth of 7%, account for 0.6% of the city’s economy, and create 30,000 jobs each year.
He also said that in the next decade, the city would focus on developing a new-style co-operative model, and seek to increase the ratio of co-operative leaders with college and university degrees to 60%.
To achieve these targets, the city will implement a number of measures. As well as increasing the capital of the City Cooperative Member Support Fund, it will continue to connect credit organisations and co-operatives, provide training to co-operative managers and help promote their products and improve their technologies.
