The Mekong Delta city of Can Tho organized its annual Economic Forum 2025 on November 14 with the theme "Can Tho City towards a modern logistics center, a driving force for the development of the Mekong Delta region", according to a report from the Government News.
The forum gathered experts, scientists, and businesses in the fields of investment, digital economy, finance, and logistics to identify solutions for addressing "bottlenecks" in infrastructure, services, and institutions, in order to enhance Can Tho's competitiveness and strengthen regional connectivity.
Vice Chairman of the Can Tho People's Committee Nguyen Van Khoi stated that the Politburo's Resolution No. 59 clearly identifies Can Tho as a center for services, trade, tourism, logistics, and processing industries, playing a driving role in promoting development for the entire region. The Mekong Delta regional master plan for the period 2021-2030 with a vision to 2050, approved by the Prime Minister's Decision No. 287, further affirms Can Tho as a key dynamic region and a multimodal logistics gateway connecting the vital economic axis with Ho Chi Minh City and other localities in the region.
However, in recent times, the goal of becoming a comprehensive hub with primary functions in trade, logistics, deep processing industry, and the application of high technology to increase the value of agricultural products in Can Tho City has still faced many difficulties and challenges.
Specifically, infrastructure development is not synchronous; the road, waterway, port systems, and digital technology infrastructure are still underdeveloped to meet the needs of large investors. Logistics services, especially agricultural logistics, have many limitations in the stages of receiving, processing, preserving, packaging, warehousing, transportation, and customs clearance.
Most logistics businesses are small and medium-sized, with limited capacity to provide integrated services along the value chain or in large quantities. Besides positive policies that create development momentum, there are still policies that are not suitable for the new situation and the economic changes of the city, after its merger with the former provinces of Hau Giang and Soc Trang.
From the current situation, Mr. Le Thanh Hoa, Acting Director of the Can Tho Institute for Socio-Economic Research, on behalf of the forum's Organizing Committee, highlighted the five key issue groups including logistics infrastructure, logistics services, logistics service businesses, market development for logistics services, and mechanisms and policies in the coming time for discussing at the forum.
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