Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung speaks at the press conference (Photo: VietnamPlus). Hanoi (VNA) - In recent times, thousands of business conditions, product categories subject to customs checks, and administrative procedures have been cut and simplified in accordance with Government Resolution 68, facilitating production and business activities, significantly contributing to improving the investment and business environment and national competitiveness.
The information was announced at a press conference on the resolution held by the Government Office on September 30 in Hanoi.
Business environment, competitiveness improved
According to Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, in 2007-2010, Vietnam cut or simplified 4,818 out of the 5,421 administrative procedures, which helped save nearly 30 trillion VND (1.3 billion USD) per year, an impressive figure, he said.
More than 3,890 out of the 6,191 business conditions and 6,776 out of the 9,926 product categories subject to customs checks were removed and simplified in 2016-20, saving 18 million working days per year, equivalent to 6.3 trillion VND.
Notably, Vietnam climbed 20 places in the Doing Business report by the World Bank in the 2016-2020 period, ranking 70 out of the 190 countries and economies around the world, and 5th in ASEAN.
Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum (WEF) ranked Vietnam as the 67th most competitive economy in its report released in 2019, moving up 10 places from the 2018 ranking. The country ranked 7th in ASEAN in the report.
Dung, however, noted that reforms remained slow and some regulations did not aid firms but, on the contrary, caused more difficulties.
He stressed that there was a lot of room for growth by carrying out efficient reforms.
According to the minister, Vietnam is entering the third wave of reforms, with a goal of slashing at least 20 percent of the business regulations in the next five years.
The Government’s business regulation reform programme for 2020-2025 was the largest and most comprehensive, demonstrating the Government’s determination to improve the business environment to drive development, he said.
Resolution No.68/NQ-CP on popularising the programme on the abolishment or simplification of business regulations in the 2020-2025 period, issued on May 12, 2020, was developed based on experiences in other countries, particularly members of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Promoting reform
Resolution 68 aims to remove and simplify at least 20 percent of the business regulations and cut at least a fifth of the compliance costs.
The programme also focused on preventing the new issuance of unnecessary, unreasonable and illegal regulations and those causing more difficulties for businesses, while removing inconsistencies and overlaps in business regulations.
Dung said the Government attached special attention to institutional reform and building e-Government to create favourable conditions for businesses and citizens.
According to Dung, to implement the reform programme effectively, the focus would be placed on accelerating the electronic handling of administrative procedures, especially with the implementation of a digitalisation plan for handling administrative procedures.
The transition from the paper-based to the digital-based management would be pushed up, aiming to create the best conditions for businesses and to cut costs.
Businesses and citizens would play a role in supervising and evaluating the reform process.
Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Vu Tien Loc (Photo: VietnamPlus) The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI)’s findings showed that the percentage of firms which must apply for licences for their business operation had reduced from 58 percent to 48 percent.
Chairman of VCCI Vu Tien Loc said that this was not just a matter of money or time but also the confidence of business.
Resolution 68 is hoped to trigger more comprehensive reforms to tackle existing problems in the business legal system and hasten reforms of management agencies at all levels.
Regarding the implementation road map for the Resolution, the Government Office will develop statistics software for the implementation of the Resolution. That software must be available to be submitted to the Prime Minister before October 31 this year./.
