The capital city of Hanoi must improve the environment of investment, production and business in order to boost its provincial competitiveness index (PCI), according to Vice Chairman of Hanoi People’s Committee Nguyen Van Suu.

Suu made the remark at a recent seminar in Hanoi , aiming to raise the city’s PCI rankings, which was the 51 st out of the country’s 63 provinces and cities last year, 15 places lower than its performance in 2011, according to survey results conducted by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

Among nine categories to compose the PCI, Hanoi was in the top group in terms of labour training, but it dropped to the bottom of the list regarding land access and stability in land use.

Th e party committee and the People’s Committee of the city were forced into gathering all relevant departments and agencies to figure out the reasons behind the disappointing performance and propose ways to enhance PCI, thus improving the confidence of organisations, enterprises and people.

Suu asked the municipal units to further push administrative reforms with focus on administrative procedures and the implementation of a one-stop mechanism, to remove difficulties for businesses.

Tran Huy Sang, Director of the Municipal Department of Home Affairs, also affirmed that Hanoi attaches importance to improving PCI rankings and boosting its socio-economic development.

Hanoi People’s Committee had previously issued a plan to boost rankings in the period from 2011-2015.

Despite its poor PCI showing, Hanoi recorded a 7.7 percent ec onomic growth rate in the first six months of this year, a relatively high figure in the context of economic hardship nationwide.

The PCI programme is part of the US Agency for International Development’s Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (USAID/VNCI), which has been implemented since 2005. All 63 provinces and cities have used PCI to devise their own economic policies and development strategies.-VNA