Dong Nai City rises alongside the country

The ceremony announcing the National Assembly's Resolution on the establishment of Dong Nai City is a significant political event in Dong Nai's development process. Below are the views of city leaders, economists and education administrators on this important event.

Thai Bao, Deputy Secretary of the Dong Nai Provincial Party Committee and Head of the Provincial Party Committee’s Organization Commission (now Deputy Secretary of the Dong Nai City Party Committee and Head of the City Party Committee’s Organization Commission), poses for a photo after working at the Political School.

Nguyen Thi Hoang, Member of the City Party Committee, Vice Chairwoman of the City People’s Committee:

Elevating Dong Nai to new heights

Since the historic moment when the National Assembly voted to pass the resolution establishing Dong Nai City, Dong Nai has entered a new turning point with comprehensive development strategies and major responsibilities that create strategic breakthroughs to rise alongside the country.

I believe that with Dong Nai’s status as a new city, its Party Committee, authorities, and people will continue to uphold the tradition of solidarity and effectively mobilize all internal resources to elevate the city to new heights. Dong Nai City will accelerate the enhancement of its governance capacity, make more efficient use of resources, and strengthen its role as a key growth driver of the country while fully tapping into the advantages of Long Thanh International Airport. The city is expected to become an important hub for regional connectivity, develop a green and smart logistics system, and integrate more deeply into the global supply chain.

All development strategies of Dong Nai City are directed toward a common goal of creating a more civilized and modern living environment for residents. The people of Dong Nai will benefit from the achievements of socio-economic development that the Party Committee, authorities, and people have worked together to build over many years.

Le Bach Long, Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai Business Federation:

Creating more conditions for enterprises to access market

With one of the biggest economies in the country, Dong Nai creates many opportunities for enterprises and entrepreneurs to grow. There are a lot of companies in the city, most of them are small and medium-sized ones. Local companies are able to participate in component packages as Dong Nai speeds up the development of infrastructure projects. Concurrently, there are opportunities to establish connections with foreign direct investment enterprises in the region to deliver goods, services, and outsourced products in accordance with orders, gradually integrating more deeply into supply chains. 

To ensure sustainable development, the Dong Nai Business Federation, industry associations, and the local business community hope that the city will continue to aggressively implement policies that support businesses, facilitate trade promotion and product distribution, and act as a conduit for collaboration with major partners and corporations.

Le Thi Minh Anh, Head of the Creative Space Development Department, Vietnam National Innovation Center:

Connecting experts, developing high-quality human resources

Since Dong Nai has become the country’s seventh city, there are several advantages to encouraging innovation. In particular, low-altitude economic growth, supporting industries, and high-tech agriculture have great potential for fostering local innovation.

Dong Nai needs to increase the efficiency of connectivity and resource attraction for local innovation cluster in the near future. In the new development context, it should simultaneously prioritize the development of high-quality human resources and encourage value chain connections through innovative initiatives. The National Innovation Center is prepared to work with Dong Nai City to form advisory groups for solutions that will support the local innovation ecosystem by bringing together scientists and experts.

 Abraham Nguyen Quang Huy, Vice Chairman of the National Startup Association, President of 9S UNION (Global Economic Union):

Connecting "four stakeholders" to promote innovation development

Dong Nai City can create a chain-based model in the future to link the "Quadruple Helix" model (involving State, schools, enterprises, and investors) in developing the local startup and innovation ecosystem. Under this model, the State will set out problems and establish enabling mechanisms; schools and research institutes supply knowledge, human resources, and laboratories; businesses supply market demand, data, and testing environments; and investors supply capital, financial discipline, and the capacity to scale up markets for innovative startup products. Annually, every quarter, or every six months, the locality can organize "technology ordering" sessions...

 Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Vu Quynh, Vice Rector of Lac Hong University:

Focusing on building an open training ecosystem

In addition to an expansion in administrative scale, the transformation of Dong Nai into a city offers significant opportunities to shift the growth model toward a digital economy, high-tech industries, and innovation. The demand for digital human resources will rise quickly when urban infrastructure, logistics, digital data, and high-tech industrial parks are all developed at the same time. This is especially true in industries like artificial intelligence, automation, semiconductors, e-commerce, data analytics, and smart governance. 

Dong Nai has a significant advantage due to its location in the southern key economic region, convenient access to Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thanh International Airport, and an extensive network of industrial parks and economic zones. This will be a crucial foundation for creating an innovation ecosystem connected to companies, universities, and research facilities. Dong Nai can completely grow as a high-tech human resource hub for the Southern region in the new development context if the locality can build an open training ecosystem that closely connects schools and companies.

Bui Duc Huong, Principal of Phu Binh Secondary School (Phu Lam commune):

Developing smart schools

The teaching staff has high expectations for a complete transformation when Dong Nai becomes the country's seventh city. The new status will provide local teachers with additional opportunities to engage more deeply in foreign training programs, academic exchanges, as well as science and technology transfer, particularly at the university and college levels. To help teachers feel secure in their jobs, I also hope the city will increase salaries and implement particular social welfare measures for the education and training sector.

In order to meet the demands of the new development context, I think the education sector will build a system of digital schools and smart schools and promote the application of artificial intelligence and robotics in teaching. In order to enhance, modernize, and develop the quality of education and human resource training, the local government will keep investing in and developing synchronous and modern educational infrastructure, not only in the core region but also in border and disadvantaged areas.

 By Reporter Group – Translated by Minh Hong, Thu Ha