Vietnam is targeting to be among top ASEAN 4 with best business environment by 2021. (Photo: laodong.vn) Hanoi (VNS/VNA) – Improving the business environment and nationalcompetitiveness is a core policy priority of the Vietnamese Government in 2019.
Thishas great importance because many nations are racing to attract investmentthrough fostering the quality of their business conditions.
ResolutionNo 19 on the improvement of the business environment has been implemented for fiveyears and has gained a lot of success. The Government is planning to carry afurther reform on this issue next year and this resolution is expected to benumbered 02 instead of 19, just after the Resolution No 01 which sets the majortasks and solutions to implement the socio-economic development and Statebudget for 2019.
Afterfive years of implementation, Resolution 19 has raised awareness of the Stateagencies and business community on the importance of fostering quality of thebusiness climate and national competitiveness.
Therace to improve business conditions has been accelerated among ministries inthe recent years with thousands of unreasonable conditions for investment andbusiness abolished. Many export and import goods have been removed from thelist that needed specialised inspection.
Themechanism based on the principle of risk assessment and level of compliance ofenterprises has been initially implemented in some areas.
Asa result, the country’s business index tracked by the World Bank in 2018 jumpedby 21 points compared to 2015. Performances of some criteria such as logisticservices, innovation, e-Government and access to e-public services have seenstrong improvements.
However,Vietnam’s overall ranking is still low compared to other nations in the region(69th/190). In addition, some indicators lagged behind, such as thebankruptcy index, dispute resolution, and property registration and businessperformance.
Accordingto Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute of Economic Management(CIEM), Vietnam has reformed strongly in recent years but as the world movesfaster a competition is growing among nations in fostering business environmentand boosting national competitiveness.
Vietnamhas signed many free trade agreements (FTAs), including high-quality tradepacts such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-PacificPartnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA). This has opened up greatopportunities but also posed challenges for Vietnamese businesses.
Althoughthe country’s business environment has improved significantly in the past fiveyears, it is still behind others in the 11 economies in CPTPP. Therefore,competition will be harsh, according to Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).
Expertsand business community have agreed that Vietnam needs double or even tripleefforts to reform in the future. The urgent need now is to get a strongengagement of ministries and localities in implementing solutions to improvebusiness conditions.
PrimeMinister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in the cabinet meeting at the end of Novemberstressed the need for leaders of ministries and localities to set clear goals,specific criteria with strict punishments for those with poor performance toobtain obvious achievements.
Inthe latest draft, the targets of Resolution 02 will focus on Vietnam’s rankingsin the World Bank’s Doing Business Index, Logistics Performance Index; WorldEconomic Forum’s Global Competitiveness, the Readiness for Future of Productionand Tourism Competitiveness; World Intellectual Property Organisation’s GlobalInnovation; and United Nations’ E-Government Index.
Prioritiesin 2019 will be placed on four key areas, including simplifying procedures fordoing business; continuing reforms in specialised inspections and connectingthe National Single Window Portal; promoting electronic payment and providinge-public services at the level 4; and developing innovation ecosystems andsupporting startups.
Accordingto the draft, Vietnam is targeting to be among ASEAN 4 with the best businessenvironment by 2021.
Inthe latest announcement of the Government Office last week, Deputy PrimeMinister Vu Duc Dam also asked ministries and agencies to urgently contributeopinions for Resolution 02.-VNS/VNA
VNA
