The year 2022 was recognised as the year of "strong responsiveness" of proud "achievements", "milestones" and "events".
1. Party General Secretary pays a working visit to Ho Chi Minh City
On September 23, the Party General Secretary and the delegation of the Party Central Committee paid a working visit to the City Party Committee’s Standing Board and key leaders of the City, to review the achievements in the fields of socio-economic development, security-defence and Party building, since the 11th City Party Congress and the 13th National Party Congress and in the first eight months of 2022, as well as devise tasks for the coming time.
Expressing a very special affection for the city, the top leader said that Ho Chi Minh City is an extremely important strategic area, has been recognised as a heroic area many times, is the only city in the country named after President Ho Chi Minh, is a symbol of revolutionary heroism, dynamism, creativity and innovation. The city always evokes love and affection among compatriots throughout the country and abroad and is respected by international friends.
In his speech at the working session, the Party General Secretary asked the National Assembly, the Government, relevant commissions, ministries and agencies at the central level, to study, consider and work directly with the City’s authorities, to specifically address their proposals and recommendations in the spirit of "Ho Chi Minh City for the whole country" and "The whole country for Ho Chi Minh City", towards creating the most favourable conditions for the City to develop faster and more sustainably.
This event has received great attention from the citizens as they expressed their hope that the directions of the Party General Secretary will help the city overcome recent difficulties and obstacles, that have existed to continue being an economic locomotive of the whole country.
2. Activities held to celebrate the 100th birthday of late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet
A series of activities celebrating the 100th birthday of late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet aimed to affirm the merits and honour the great contributions made by him, the outstanding local of the Southern region, to the revolutionary cause of Vietnam.
In addition, the activities expressed the respect of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, authorities and people, to comrade Vo Van Kiet, the excellent student of President Ho Chi Minh.
During his revolutionary life, the late PM Vo Van Kiet had attached and made important contributions to the development of Saigon – Cho Lon – Gia Dinh – Ho Chi Minh City for a long time. The City’s Party Committee and people have always respected and are proud of the enthusiastic and talented leader.
Speaking at a seminar on November 22, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee Nguyen Van Nen stressed, that after nearly 70 years of continuous and vibrant revolutionary activities, overcoming many hardships and challenges, the life of comrade Vo Van Kiet, from being a patriotic young man to becoming Prime Minister, has accompanied the heroic years of the Party, State and people, especially Ho Chi Minh City. During difficult times and turning points, his talent, intelligence, sharpness, qualities and bravery were most clearly expressed.
His thinking throughout his life was "all for the people, taking care of the people, benefiting the people, and improving the people's lives".
The great merits and contributions made by the late PM to the Vietnamese Party and revolutionary cause have aroused the pride and spirit of studying the communist example among the people, especially the young generations.
3. Ho Chi Minh cultural spaces developed more and more widely in the city
In the city named after Uncle Ho, Ho Chi Minh cultural spaces contain many unique values of tangible and intangible cultural space that cannot be found everywhere. Ho Chi Minh material cultural spaces are Nha Rong Wharf - Ho Chi Minh Museum, the monument of President Ho Chi Minh, solemnly placed in front of the headquarters of the municipal People’s Council – People’s Committee, on the square of Nguyen Hue pedestrian street towards Bach Dang Wharf, as a symbol of the faith, love and respect of the citizens towards President Ho Chi Minh.
 |
A cultural space was built in Tan Phu District. (Photo: NDO) |
In recent times, many Ho Chi Minh cultural spaces have been formed and put into operation right at the offices, universities and even religious worship facilities.
Ho Chi Minh cultural spaces have been expanded to promote the characteristics, culture and personality of the city's people who are always dynamic, creative and compassionate, and take the lead and accept challenges and difficulties.
4. “Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City” Programme launched
The “Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City” Programme was held throughout the process of organising many events, including the Ho Chi Minh City Ao Dai Festival, Ho Chi Minh City Tourism Festival, the 2022 Ho Chi Minh City International Travel Expo, Ho Chi Minh City Food Festival, Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon, the exchange with international Michelin-starred chefs and the Balloon Festival.
In addition, the municipal Department of Tourism held many attractive activities to promote and introduce destinations in the city to visitors.
Ho Chi Minh City welcomed more than 3.5 million international visitors and served 25 million domestic tourists and gained a total tourism revenue of 120 trillion VND (over 507.7 million USD) in 2022.
The city’s position on the world map has been increasingly confirmed with many prestigious awards in 2022, such as Asia's Leading Business Travel Destination, Asia's Best MICE Destination and Asia's Leading Tourist Board that were honoured by the World Tourism Organisation, the most popular domestic travel destination, the most attractive destination in the region during the peak summer tourist season, and one of two Asian cities in the top 15 most visited destinations in the world.
5. Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2022
The Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum 2022 (HEF 2022) was held, themed “Digital economy: Driving force for the future growth of Ho Chi Minh City”.
 |
At the Ho Chi Minh City Economic Forum in 2022. (Photo: Thanh Tung) |
The city hosted an international event successfully, affirming its organisational capacity and local leaders’ determination in raising awareness of digital transformation and promoting the digital economy.
The Forum's success laid the groundwork for becoming an annual event bearing the city's signature.
6. Ba Son Bridge inaugurated
Ba Son Bridge is nearly 1.5km long with 6 lanes. It was designed with cable-stayed style, having the main tower with modern architecture at 113m high, leaning towards Thu Thiem.
This is one of the key projects of the city, contributing to completing the main traffic axis of the city and increasing the connection between the central area and Thu Thiem’s new urban area (Thu Duc city).
The project also creates an investment attraction to complete this urban area before 2030.
 |
The image of Ba Son Bridge from above. (Photo: NDO) |
The completion of the Ba Son Bridge contributes to completing the main trunk traffic network, strengthening the connection between the city centre and the Thu Thiem peninsula, enhancing investment attraction, and creating momentum for this new urban area.
7. Information system for settling administrative procedures in Ho Chi Minh City launched
The information system for settling administrative procedures in Ho Chi Minh City was officially launched by the municipal People’s Committee on October 29, 2022, based on merging the online public service portal and the electronic one-stop system.
The new system has full functions and was connected and integrated with the National Public Service Portal, the electronic identification and authentication system for sharing and authenticating citizen information with the national population database, under Project No.06, the information system for handling administrative procedures and other specialised information systems and databases of central ministries and branches, to provide information and create favourable conditions for individuals and organisations.
As of December 28, 2022, the new system has provided 436 online public services.
8. The 2022 Week of Ho Chi Minh City Innovation, Startup, Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation
The 2022 Week of Ho Chi Minh City Innovation, Startup, Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation (WHISE), not only conveyed a message about the role of the state in creation but also promoted the role of orientation, leading, connection, cooperation and sharing, in innovation activities of Vietnam.
A series of activities during the week were hosted by the City People’s Committee, aiming to summarise the innovation, start-up and digital transformation activities in the city, while connecting the startup ecosystem of Ho Chi Minh City with neighbouring provinces, as well as domestic and foreign units.
Ho Chi Minh City is the first locality in the country to build a Digital Transformation Programme from June 2020.
9. DT-22 drill held
Ho Chi Minh City successfully organized a drill on handling situations related to security and order, in combination with fire prevention and rescue (called DT-22 Ho Chi Minh City).
The drill featured the participation of many forces and the coordination of Mobile Police Command under the Ministry of Public Security, and Air Division 370 under the Ministry of Defence.
 |
Soldiers rehearse emergencies for injured people. (Photo: qdnd.vn) |
DT-22 Ho Chi Minh City played a very important role in raising awareness of leadership, command and handling situations of the Ho Chi Minh City Steering Committee for Anti-Terrorism and the Unified Command of the localities.
10. The first Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue
This is the city's first large-scale foreign affairs event in the first year of its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event aimed to implement a plan to promote relations between Ho Chi Minh City and international localities, especially key localities in Vietnam's comprehensive strategic partners.
 |
Leaders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ho Chi Minh City attend the first Ho Chi Minh City Friendship Dialogue in 2022. (Photo: NDO) |
The dialogue took place from December 2-4, with the participation of more than 20 leaders and representatives of international localities, having friendly cooperation relations with Ho Chi Minh City. Delegates from many countries gathered and discussed regional and global development challenges and opportunities.
