Scene of the conference (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The State will protect legitimate rights and business right of enterprises in line with national laws, and the Government will create the most favourable condition for business development and start-up initiatives, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Speaking at an online conference with the attendance of about ten thousand of business nationwide in Ho Chi Minh City on April 29, the Government leader highlighted the importance of enterprises to the nation’s development.
“Enterprises are the driving force for national economic development,” he said, stressing that all enterprises, regardless of their scales and types except for some operating in security and national defence, will have equal access to resources such as capital, natural resource, land, market and business opportunities.
He admitted that while the Party and State have focused on building and fine tuning mechanisms and policies for enterprises’ development, the current business and investment environment is not sufficiently favourable for enterprises.
The issuance of laws and documents guiding law enforcement is often delayed, with many guiding documents unclear and incompatible, PM Phuc said, adding that enterprises also suffer from multiple fees, numerous inspections, bureaucracy, slow administrative reform, and the lack of mechanisms that encourage enterprises to apply advance technologies and develop brands.
Prime Minister Phuc required authorities of provinces and cities to regularly organise meetings and dialogues with investors and enterprises to listen to their difficulties, thus taking prompt measures to solve the problems.
He promised more efforts to boost administrative reform and fight corruption, adding that unsuitable regulations should be abolished including sub-licences.
The Government will issue a resolution on business development in the coming time, he said.
During the conference, leaders of ministries and sectors also promised to serve the business community.
Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung affirmed that business development will be one of the leading priorities of his ministry’s action programme, saying that more specific measures will be deployed to help businesses solving difficulties.
The ministry committed to promoting reform and the enforcement of the revised Investment Law and revised Corporate Law in order to realise the spirit of the 2013 Constitution on respect for freedom of business of people and enterprises.
For his part, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung pledged to improve the business environment and competitiveness to the level of the top three countries in the ASEAN in terms of some indexes such as the time to pay tax and duty clearance time.
Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh stressed that his ministry will facilitate businesses’ implementation of public administrative procedures within its management fields.
In his speech at the event, Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vu Tien Loc asked the Government to work out drastic policy and administrative measures to reduce risks and costs, particularly “unofficial costs” for enterprises.
While proposing to develop a national start-up programme, representatives from the Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises urged the Government to promulgate preferential policies for small and medium-sized enterprises to join production chains and create mechanisms encouraging industrial parks designed specifically for SMEs.
Representatives from the associations of enterprises from the US, Japan and the Republic of Korea (RoK) in Vietnam asked for stronger administrative procedure reform, measures to reduce papers required in financial and monetary transactions and the application of international accounting standards.
Chairman of th e Board of Directors of the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) Tran Bac Ha said the Government should swiftly issue documents guiding the implementation of the revised Law on Investment.
On the occasion, an agreement was signed between the Chairmen of the municipal People’s Committees of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and the VCCI Chairman, under which Hanoi committed to build e-government and issue business licence online within two working days. HCM City pledged to cut half of customs procedures.
Cabinet members will convene an extraordinary meeting later the same day to discuss proposals and recommendation mentioned in the conference.-VNA
