Workshop seeks to improve Vietnam’s business environment

Experts at the workshop on Doing Business in Vietnam 2016-2019: Results and Some Implications. (Photo: VietnamPlus)

Hanoi (VNA) – After over five years of implementing the Government’s Resolution 19 on improving business environment from 2014 to 2018, Vietnam’s competitiveness has been significantly improved. 

According to the World Bank’s Doing Business, Vietnam was ranked 70th among the 190 surveyed economies in 2019. The country came fifth in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), after Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Brunei.

On October 28, the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) coordinated with the “Australia supports Vietnam’s economic reform” programme (Aus4Reform) to organise a workshop on Doing Business in Vietnam 2016-2019: Results and Some Implications.

Reforms tend to be sluggish

According to Nguyen Minh Thao, head of the CIEM’s Business Environment and Competitiveness Committee, Vietnam’s business environment scores have been continuously improved but started to slow down in the past two years. Vietnam’s ranking recorded a positive improvement to 68th in 2017 from 82th in 2016, then moved back to the 69th in 2018 and stopped at 70th in 2019.

According to the rankings in the past four years, Vietnam has two indicators with remarkable improvement: access to electricity, up 69 places, from 96th to 27th; and tax payment and social insurance, up 58 places, from 167th to 109th. In addition, the credit access index also increased seven places from 32nd to 25th; contract dispute settlement increased six places from 69th to 62th.

However, four important fields have seen reduction: cross-border transactions, down 11 places, from 93rd to 104th; protection of minority shareholders, down 10 places, from 87th to 97th; assets registration, down 5 places, from 99th to 84th; and construction licensing, down one place, from 24th to 25th.

Vietnam’s business environment scores have been continuously improved but started to slow down in the past two years. (Illustrative image. Source: VNA)

Business conditions remain obstacles

According to Thao, the decline in the above index groups was due to shortcomings in legal documents. Some even run counter to the directions of the Government.

The reform of management and specialised inspection activities is still at a snail’s pace, she said.

Particularly, the specialised inspection of import and export goods is not only slow but also has an increasing gap with other countries in the region, she added.

In fact, inspection is still a worry for businesses. In addition, informal expenses are seen in most areas, according to Thao.

Dau Anh Tuan, head of the legal department at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), affirmed that the outcomes in business environment improvement over the past time are encouraging. 

However, surveyed businesses said they still encounter a number of difficulties in doing administrative procedures, especially in the field of land.

They said it is difficult for them to access information on land planning, and there is also lack of clean land fund.

Tuan said business post-registration procedures are also a headache for enterprises when 16 percent of firms said they have to wait for over one month to have all necessary papers for official operation.

Meanwhile, 31 percent of enterprises revealed that they had to pay for informal fees when doing business establishment procedures, and 29 percent said they had difficulties in asking for certifications in line with technical regulations.

The confidence of businesses in the judicial system remains low, he said, adding that a survey conducted in 2019 showed that less than 50 percent of businesses considered using the court to resolve disputes.

Given the situation, head of the CIEM’s Business Environment and Competitiveness Committee Nguyen Minh Thao, said it is necessary to reform from the management mindset of ministries, departments and localities.

Ministries and departments should seriously implement measures defined by the Government on reforming business conditions, specialised inspection and management activities, she suggested./.