Vietnam should develop market economy institutions in the context of integration and create a favourable business climate in order to attract more investment, heard a conference in Hanoi on December 22.

Participants at the event held that the joining of regional cooperation agreements under roadmaps will provide Vietnam with more opportunities to catch up with other countries in the region.

Institutional reforms in Vietnam need to target the people’s direct and indirect supervision rights through elected agencies, the press and associations, they said, adding that the people also have the rights to access information, question officials and dismiss appointed ones.

If Vietnam cannot solve issues related to group interests, it will find hard to make progress in economic institution reforms, with low competitiveness, expanded rich-poor development gap, and increasing environmental pollution, they said.

The conference, themed “Developing market economy institutions in the context of integration: International experience and implications for Vietnam ”, was jointly held by the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) under Ministry if Plan and Investment and the World Bank.-VNA