Agencies have checked legal documents and cut unnecessary business conditions as requested by the government, but they have also added new requirements when compiling new regulations.

The HCM City People’s Committee organised a conference on March 7 to review last year’s administrative reforms and digital transformation and set tasks for this year.

Hanoi on February 20 announced the 2023 Public Administration Reform (PAR) Index of its departments, department-level agencies, and People’s Committees of districts, with the Department of Home Affairs and Dong Da district taking the lead.

As Vietnam boosts the attraction of investment and spurs development of a stronger domestic business community, the government is committed to quickening the pace of administrative reform.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on November 14 chaired the sixth meeting of the Steering Committee for Administrative Reform via a videoconference linking 63 cities and provinces nationwide.

One commune in Binh Chanh district in HCM City has a population of 130,000, while a commune in Lang Son province only has 400 people. But the number of civil servants in the two communes is nearly the same.

Eight districts and 563 communes have been eliminated as part of administrative reform. The figures will double or triple in the time to come.

Offering attractive salaries and working conditions, HCM City has been able to recruit only five "talented" experts in the last four years.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired the third session of the Government’s Steering Committee for Administrative Reform on February 3, stressing that administrative reform must centre on people and enterprises.

Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra has put forward priorities for the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2023.

The Party Central Committee’s Economic Commission is working on three plans that will be submitted to the Politburo for approval.

HCM City Vice Chair Duong Anh Duc said at a seminar on using artificial intelligence (AI) in public administration that AI is an important tool that brings great benefits to the public and authorities.

On December 13, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Vietnam Post organized an online training course for a team surveying people’s satisfaction about state agencies in 2022.

Under the current wage scheme, a new university graduate working at state agencies would be paid a base rate of VND3.5 million (US$140), which is only enough to pay rent for a room in Hanoi or HCM City.

More than 67% of enterprises paid "unofficial" costs in construction inspection activities and 61.36% for conditional business licenses.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra says the government plans to cut 17 general directorates and equivalent units, eight authorities, 145 departments and equivalent units. The base salary is expected to rise by 20.8 percent.

Carrying out wage reform is one of the urgent solutions National Assembly Deputy Ta Thi Yen has proposed to retain staff amid the mass departure of state officers for the private sector.

The newly-elected Chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, Tran Sy Thanh, stressed his commitment to continue pushing for administrative reform and enhance efficiency in the operation of the public apparatus.

The overlapping and inconsistency of legal documents continues to make things difficult for businesses.