The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) on April 16 organised a workshop in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang looking into the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) of the regional localities.

Head of VCCI’s Legal Department Dau Anh Tuan said VCCI conducted a survey of over 8,000 businesses nationwide in 2013, 1,600 of which were foreign invested ones.

The competitiveness of 11 out of 13 Mekong Delta provinces was assessed as fairly good, good or very good. Notably, Kien Giang climbed to the third position in Vietnam after topping the regional chart, he said.

However, the regional localities have not performed well in some important criteria, for example their support for private businesses, trade promotion services, workforce training and transparency, Tuan noted.

He also urged them to quickly improve workforce quality to meet the stricter demands of investors so as to attract more investment.

However, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Can Tho city Truong Quang Hoai Nam, tabled some problems with the VCCI survey.

He cited the business support criterion as an example. It contains up to 18 sub-criteria, making it very hard for the provinces to satisfy all standards.

In 2013, the central city of Da Nang took the lead in the PCI rankings, followed by Thua Thien-Hue, Kien Giang and Quang Ninh provinces.-VNA