On Monday, the Da Nang branch of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held a get-together for its members in the central region to review their operation last year.

In his remarks at the event, Vice Chairman of the municipal People's Committee Ho Ky Minh highly lauded the important role and the significant contributions of the business community to the city’s progress over the last year.

He also underscored Da Nang is rolling out the red carpet for domestic and foreign investors.

Mr Minh also highlighted the important role of businesses in building Da Nang into a smarter city and an attractive destination for international events and festivals in the world in line with the Politburo's Directive No 43-NQ/TW about promoting the development of the locality by 2030, with a vision towards 2045.

He affirmed his city was making every effort to enhance its investment and business environment, as well as to create very favourable conditions for businesses to invest and operate effectively in the city.

Vice Chairman Minh also asked for help from VCCI Da Nang to continue joining forces with the municipal authorities to promote the city’s investment attraction activities, and to help local enterprises to overcome their difficulties in a bid to fulfill the city’s tasks in the new period.

According to VCCI Da Nang, a sum total of 80,000 businesses are operating in the central region.

By late 2018, there had been 11,000 newly-established enterprises across the region, an increase of 8.25% against 2017, and a 2.35 times higher than the average growth rate of the whole country.

However, most of them are small-scale, and they are facing a shortage of quality startup projects.

Last year, VCCI Da Nang organised 134 activities relating to the enhancement of the business and investment environment, and proposed 14 solutions to the city leaders to help businesses overcome their difficulties.

Besides, the organisation admitted 130 new members, up 55% compared with 2017.