On April 6, Ba Ria – Vung Tau’s Provincial People's Committee in cooperation with the Vietnam Startup Foundation (SVF) held a conference on “Connecting resources to support Ba Ria – Vung Tau startups". The event saw the presence of Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee - Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee to support startups in Ba Ria – Vung Tau; Mr. Nguyen Van Dong, Member of the Standing Committee of the provincial Party Committee - Head of the Provincial Commission for Mass Mobilization; Mr. Tran Van Tuan, Provincial Committee Member - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Mr. Mai Thanh Quang, Director of Department of Science and Technology; Mr. Pham Duy Hieu, Director of Startup Vietnam Foundation; representatives from government departments, committees, district People's Committees; and nearly 300 representatives of from businesses, universities, start-ups, universities and youth unions.

The conference was held to connect different sectors and resources to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Ba Ria – Vung Tau. The province government believes that entrepreneurship will become a driving force for the socio-economic development of the province and these need cooperations of all different part of the economy such as government, large corporations, business associations, startup supporting entities, universities.

 Speaking at the meeting, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee –Mr. Nguyen Thanh Long said that in 2017, the province has been seen impressive entrepreneurship activities together with other parts of the country such as higher rate of new business registration and the emergence of a new generation of innovative startups. In order to create a favorable business environment for a more develop startup scene, the vice chairman requests the leaders of government departments and agencies to recognize the need of support for entrepreneurship, take initiatives with business associations and startup supporting organizations to meet startup’s need.

 At the conference, Mr.  Pham Duy Hieu, Director of Startup Vietnam Foundation, shared SVF experience in helping local government supporting local entrepreneurial ecosystem, Mr. Mai Thanh Quang, Director of the Department of Science and Technology inform the audience the action plan of the department in 2018 to support startup and innovation in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.

At the conference, the provincial People's Committee and SVF signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding to promote entrepreneurship in Ba Ria – Vung Tau in the 2018-2020 period. SVF will assist the province in designing and running acceleration programs, developing the local mentoringnetwork and the local investor network and support communities events.