Spending remains below half of the annual plan
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade and partner organizations convened the 16th Southern Provinces and Cities Industrial Promotion Conference on the afternoon of October 23 at Phu Tho Gymnasium in Phu Tho Ward.
The department reported that the region spent VND 34.11 billion on industrial promotion in the first nine months of 2026, reaching 48.05% of its annual plan. Spending in 2025 totaled VND 38.455 billion, or 50.86% of that year's plan.
The approved regional budget for 2026 totals VND 71.056 billion. According to Tạp chí Công Thương, national industrial promotion funding accounts for VND 16.158 billion, or 23%, while local budgets provide VND 54.898 billion, or 77%.
Tạp chí Công Thương reported that spending through September was 461% of the amount recorded in the same period of 2025. It also reported that localities still needed to disburse VND 36.915 billion during the final three months of 2026: VND 6.076 billion in national funding and VND 30.839 billion in local funding.
Technology assistance and gaps in regional cooperation
Technology-related assistance included support for two technical demonstration models and help for 63 rural industrial establishments with technology transfer, advanced machinery and pollution treatment. Tạp chí Công Thương put spending on these activities at VND 23.812 billion in the first nine months of 2026, already above the full-year 2025 amount for technology-innovation support.
The conference report also identified limits in staffing and cooperation across localities. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, all eight localities have public service units responsible for industrial promotion. Those units employ 260 people, but only 75, about 29%, directly deliver industrial promotion activities at the grassroots level.
The report found almost no pilot projects or provisions supporting joint ventures and production partnerships in the localities' 2025 and 2026 plans. Project design remained focused largely on individual establishments rather than regional links.
Provincial and city representatives proposed stronger industrial promotion efforts, better workforce skills and more advanced post-harvest processing to increase the value of local goods.
Funding procedures and plans for 2027
The Ministry of Industry and Trade said 2026 marks both the start of the 2026-2030 industrial promotion program and the transfer of state management responsibility for industrial promotion to its Industry Department.
Do Thi Minh Tram, deputy director of that department, urged localities to comply with funding rules and address problems involving project documentation, counterpart funding, acceptance testing and payments. She also called for prompt adjustments to projects that were no longer feasible.
Local authorities were asked to communicate policies more effectively, improve advisory services, promote markets and begin preparing their 2027 industrial promotion plans, with sustainable rural industrial development as the goal.
Nguyen Nguyen Phuong, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Industry and Trade, said the conference sought to make industrial promotion more effective across the eight localities. Its objectives included helping rural industrial establishments adopt new technology, pursue digital and green transformation, and become more competitive.
Regional fair brings local products to buyers
The conference is part of a three-event Southern Industry and Trade program hosted by Ho Chi Minh City from October 22 through 27, according to Vinanet (Báo Công Thương). The program also includes the 12th Southern Industry and Trade Conference on October 22 and the Southern - Ho Chi Minh City Typical Rural Industrial Products Fair, running October 23-27.
Phu Tho Gymnasium is the venue for all three events, which involve Ho Chi Minh City, An Giang, Ca Mau, Can Tho, Dong Nai, Dong Thap, Tay Ninh and Vinh Long.
The five-day fair has about 350 standard booths. National industrial promotion funding supports 300 of them for localities' displays and livestream product promotion. Offerings include OCOP and VietGAP goods, regional specialties, handicrafts, and production machinery and equipment. Photographs published by Báo Sài Gòn Giải Phóng showed shoppers selecting OCOP products and specialty jams, including custard apple and young coconut, on October 23.
Phuong said Ho Chi Minh City, a large consumer market with demanding quality standards, would help local goods enter modern distribution networks and reach buyers nationwide.
