HCM City (VNA) – The 10th-tenure People’s Council of Ho Chi Minh City convened its third meeting on October 18to discuss the city’s important and urgent matters.

In her opening remarks, Chairwoman of the municipalPeople’s Council Nguyen Thi Le stressed the significance of the meeting thattakes place at a time when the southern city enters the new normal.

The council would review the city’s efforts inCOVID-19 prevention and control and adopt major decisions and policies tosupport agriculture and businesses affected by the pandemic.

It would also seek measures to attract moreinvestment and set out the city’s socio-economic development plan for 2022, Le said.

During the meeting, the delegates would look into thecity’s socio-economic development in the first nine months of this year, andkey tasks for the remaining months of 2021.

They are expected to pass a plan on mid-termpublic investment sourced from the local budget for 2021-2025 and the HCMCity - Moc Bai expressway project, among others.

The council would also elect additional members of the municipalPeople’s Committee on this occasion.

According to a report presented at the meeting, thepandemic has forced HCM City to impose social distancing and countermeasuresover the past nearly five months, which has seriously affected production anddaily activities in the city.

The city’s gross regional domestic product (GRDP)decreased some 4.98 percent in the nine-month period, and is forecast to drop5.06 percent this year, the report said.

The total retail sales of goods in the country’sbiggest economic hub stood at around 636 trillion VND (27.8 billion USD), down17.4 percent year-on-year. The industrial production index also contracted 12.9percent, and only 11 trillion VND worth of public investment was disbursed,meeting 32 percent of the set target.

However, the city still made progress in a number ofsocio-economic sectors like State budget collection (up 7.96 percent) to 271.64 trillion VND andproduction value in the city’s high-tech industrial park (up 12.5 percent).

The municipal People’s Committee said about 11 outof 29 criteria set for the year would be fulfilled.

In the closing months of the year, HCM City willcontinue to revamp methods to complete the socio-economic targets, adoptspecific strategies and programmes, and review nearly 50 projects andprogrammes.

The city has issued 11 detailed plans on COVID-19containment and economic recovery in the new period, consolidated andstrengthened the local medical system, especially at the grassroots level, andtaken firm steps in reopening.

It has also rolled out policies to supportenterprises and household businesses affected by the pandemic.

The meeting is scheduled to conclude on October19./.