Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, and Tay Ninh province are forming a three-legged stool stance, activating the southern economic super-region to take off.

Against the backdrop of Vietnam setting a double-digit growth target for the 2026 - 2030 period, the southern economic super-region is expected to serve as the locomotive, creating a spillover effect to the Central Highlands, the Mekong Delta, and many other economic regions across the country.

Ho Chi Minh City - the core of the Southeast region

Not only is it the largest economic hub in Vietnam, but the southern economic super-region also possesses advantages that very few areas in the Southeast Asian region enjoy. This is where the Cai Mep - Thi Vai deep-sea port system, Long Thanh International Airport, the Ho Chi Minh City financial center, and international border gates connecting to ASEAN through Tay Ninh converge simultaneously.

Among these, Ho Chi Minh City is considered the most important national growth pole, holding the core role of the Southeast region and serving as Vietnam's gateway to international trade. The city is also a hub connecting North - South, East - West economic corridors, and the East Sea maritime space; it stands as the country's leading center for finance, innovation, high-tech industry, logistics, international seaports, and high-quality services.

Specifically, according to Architect Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Urban Development Planning Association, first and foremost, the city holds the role of a national financial center and is aiming towards the goal of becoming an international financial center. With the country's largest banking system, capital market, financial institutions, and business community, Ho Chi Minh City is the place for mobilizing and allocating resources for infrastructure, industrial, and service projects across the entire region.

Besides, the city is also the largest innovation hub in Vietnam, concentrating universities, research institutes, high-tech enterprises, and a dynamic startup ecosystem. This serves as a vital foundation for supplying a high-quality workforce to new manufacturing hubs like Dong Nai as well as the high-tech industries of the whole region.

Ho Chi Minh City is simultaneously a high-quality service center in the fields of education, healthcare, commerce, tourism, science - technology, and cultural industries. These advantages create a powerful attraction for both domestic and foreign investors.

More importantly, the city is playing the role of a hub connecting new growth poles. From Ho Chi Minh City, strategic traffic routes will connect with Long Thanh Airport, the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster, international border gates in Tay Ninh, the Central Highlands, and the Mekong Delta.

Dong Nai - the new logistics hub

If Ho Chi Minh City is viewed as the "brain" coordinating the entire economic value chain, ensuring synchronous operations among industry, logistics, finance, and international trade, then Dong Nai is regarded as the "mega-factory" of the region. Notably, Dong Nai becoming a municipality directly under the central government also raises an urgent requirement for synchronizing the infrastructure network connecting the Southeast region. This is the key to maximizing the capacity of Long Thanh International Airport when it enters commercial operation, thereby creating a strategic breakthrough for national economic development.

Ms. Truong Thi Huong Binh, Director of the Department of Finance of Dong Nai City, stated that when Long Thanh Airport comes into operation, the locality will form a value-added service chain comprising aviation logistics, distribution centers, a free trade zone, banking and financial services, hotels, conferences, and smart urban areas.

In its new master plan, Dong Nai identifies Long Thanh Airport as the core of development, aiming to build a modern "airport city." The Long Thanh airport urban area spans approximately 43,000 hectares, accompanied by a 7,500-hectare airport-linked free trade zone currently under planning to establish an international logistics, commercial, and service center.

According to the development orientation, a financial and aviation service center will be formed to the southwest of the airport; meanwhile, the southeast will develop an industrial and logistics ecosystem connected with the Cai Mep - Thi Vai seaport, creating a linked chain from production to export.

Tay Ninh - a strategic gateway connecting ASEAN

If Ho Chi Minh City is the financial hub and Dong Nai is the industrial-logistics center, Tay Ninh is emerging as a strategic gateway connecting Vietnam with Cambodia and the ASEAN region. Sharing nearly 369 km of border with Cambodia, along with a system of 4 international border gates, 4 main border gates, and numerous minor border gates, Tay Ninh possesses outstanding advantages in developing border-gate economy and cross-border trade.

According to Master of Science Nguyen Van Phong, Head of the Economic Analysis Division under the Net Zero Vietnam Asia Science and Cooperation Center, this geographical location helps Tay Ninh become a gateway directly connecting Vietnam to Phnom Penh and many ASEAN nations by road. In particular, Moc Bai is currently the largest land border gate between Vietnam and Cambodia, while Xa Mat plays a crucial role in trade with Cambodia's northern provinces.

One of the locality's new drivers is the upgrade of the Tan Nam border gate into an international border gate. When connected with Cambodia's Meun Chey international border gate, this trade route is expected to significantly shorten cargo transit times, reduce logistics costs, and expand the development space for the border economy.

Notably, the Ho Chi Minh City - Moc Bai expressway project, which is being accelerated, will create a cross-border logistics corridor connecting Cambodia with Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thanh Airport, and the Cai Mep - Thi Vai port cluster. This is considered a vital link that helps transport goods from inland ASEAN to the East Sea more rapidly and efficiently.

Along with that, Tay Ninh enjoys favorable conditions to develop a system of inland container depots (ICDs), cold storage facilities, cargo distribution centers, and border logistics. The development of the three international border gates of Moc Bai, Xa Mat, and Tan Nam is expected to form a "three-legged stool" driving cross-border trade, services, tourism, and logistics.

Solutions to accelerate

Despite being evaluated as the country's growth engine, the southern economic super-region is still facing several bottlenecks that hinder its breakthrough capabilities and full potential. Mr. Pham Van Xho, Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Import-Export Association, argued that the biggest obstacle at present is the unsynchronized regional linkage infrastructure. Many ring roads, expressways, logistics railways, and seaport connection systems are being deployed slowly, causing congestion at the gateways of Ho Chi Minh City, Cat Lai port, and the Tan Son Nhat airport area. This increases transportation times, drives up logistics costs, and reduces the competitiveness of enterprises. According to Mr. Xho, the region's logistics costs remain high due to inefficient connectivity among seaports, warehouses, roadways, waterways, and airways. Besides, population pressure, rapid urbanization, limited infrastructure investment capital, and a weak regional coordination mechanism are also reducing the efficiency of developmental linkages. Notably, the connection among industry, logistics, seaports, aviation, and financial centers remains fragmented, failing to form a value chain competitive enough on a regional scale.

From another perspective, Dr. Pham Viet Thuan, Institute Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute of Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, stated that the southern economic super-region is being held back by three core groups of bottlenecks: institutions, transport infrastructure, and investment scale. According to him, the lack of a regional linkage coordination mechanism strong enough leads to fragmented development among localities, which compete against each other instead of supporting and complementing one another. Along with that, key inter-regional infrastructure projects like Ring Road 3 and Ring Road 4 are being deployed slowly, while seaport and inland waterway infrastructure have not developed commensurately. Dr. Pham Viet Thuan also noted that the quality of FDI inflows into the region is not high, lacking large-scale projects and core technologies to lead the digital transformation and green economic development processes. According to him, to create a breakthrough for the southern economic super-region, it is necessary to simultaneously remove institutional barriers, accelerate infrastructure development, and build policies strong enough to attract international strategic investors.

Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper organizes the 2nd Vietnam Economic Forum - 2026

In the context where the Politburo has just issued Resolution 09/2026 on the construction and development of Ho Chi Minh City in the new era, continuing to affirm its role as the growth locomotive, development pole, and innovation hub of the country, Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper organizes the 2nd Vietnam Economic Forum 2026 under the theme: "The Southern Economic Region - Driver for Double-Digit Growth." The event took place this morning, June 9, at the Headquarters of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper.

The forum is an opportunity for experts, managers, and the business community to discuss and contribute solutions to leverage the potential of the southern economic region, creating momentum for the double-digit growth target and realizing the aspiration to turn Vietnam into a developed, high-income country by 2045.

Source: Bao Nguoi Lao Dong