HCM City has prepared plans to develop 300 cooperatives and five cooperative alliances in the 2021-2030 period, thus reaching the targeted growth of 7 percent in the cooperative economic sector.

Wood sculpture craft 

Under a collective economic development strategy released recently by the city People’s Committee, the sector is expected to contribute 0.6% to the city’s total GDP.

With policies to encourage the expansion of cooperatives, the sector expects to attract an additional 30,000 workhands.

The city will maintain and enhance the quality of effective agricultural cooperatives and gradually improve those that are ineffective, while encouraging all cooperatives to apply high technology.

At the same time, the city will continue to build the model of advanced and modern agricultural cooperatives in five districts, and will also work to ensure all new-style rural communes have cooperatives and production-sales links.

In the industry and handicraft sectors, the city will develop operating cooperatives while associating the expansion of cooperatives with industry encouragement programmes to support cooperatives and businesses alike.

In the area of trade-services, HCM City will continue to reinforce established cooperatives while broadening the retail network and developing retail cooperatives and forming links among trade and agriculture-agricultural service cooperatives. It will also call for small traders in markets to join cooperatives.

In transport and loading activities, the city will work to increase the scale and reduce the number of transport cooperatives, with priority given to those owning new vehicles using environmentally-friendly fuel.

HCM City will also create the conditions necessary for cooperatives to operate in public transport.

The city will design policies to support the formation of environmental sanitation cooperatives, with a target of all districts having such cooperatives by 2030.

Figures from the city show it currently has more than 610 cooperatives, 526 of which operate in trade-services, industry-handicraft, credit, transport, agriculture, and environmental sanitation.

The number has increased over the years. About 50 new cooperatives have been set up each year since 2016, involving more than 58,600 people. The scale and connectivity of cooperatives have also been on the rise.