The aim is to improve the service sector and reduce the proportion of industry and construction jobs and companies in the economy.

The city is focusing on nine service fields and four key industrial fields.

According to Lu Thanh Phong, deputy director of HCM City’s Department of Planning and Investment, by the end of 2015 the service sector would account for 57 per cent of GDP, industry 42 per cent and agriculture 1 per cent.

Phong said investors would receive a reduction in business income tax up to 20 percent within 15 to 30 years and a 50 per cent tax exemption for a maximum of nine years.

The city also plans to shift to four key industrial sectors: information technology, manufacturing and mechanics, chemical-rubber-plastics, food and food processing.

Tran Phuoc Dung, head of the management board of HCM City Hi-Tech Agricultural Zone, said they would encourage foreign investors to invest in agriculture that uses advanced technology.

According to Dung, the city’s Hi-Tech Agricultural Zone covering an area of more than 88ha in Cu Chi District is awaiting investment for 56.5ha in the zone.

Businesses with foreign investment capital in HCM City accounted for 24 percent of the city’s GDP in 2011.

FDI businesses also made up 20 percent of the city’s total investment capital for the entire society.