Furthering administrative reforms is crucial to improving Vietnam's investment environment and helping the nation overcome the current economic crisis, Deputy Minister of Justice Le Hong Son said at a meeting on June 7.

He said administrative procedures in Vietnam are still costly and time-consuming, making the country less competitive than other countries in the region, discouraging foreign investors.

Other participants at the meeting said the Government needs to consider ensuring uniform administrative procedures in all 63 provinces and cities.

In many provinces, redundant and overlapping procedures are still common, they said.

Research done by the Justice Ministry's Administrative Procedure Control Agency found that it took 155-340 days for getting an investment license for projects in the nation's industrial parks, economic zones and export processing zones.

The agency suggested that this is shortened to between 125-180 days.

It also recommended that the time taken to get an investment licence for a project that uses land outside industrial parks, economic zones and export processing zones is reduced to 335-450 days instead of the current 580-865 days.

The meeting was jointly organised by the agency and the International Finance Corporation, the private sector funding arm of the World Bank.-VNA