Public services centre of Vinh Phuc province

The idea was proposed in a draft for a Government resolution on improving thebusiness climate and national competitiveness which the Ministry of Planningand Investment recently published for comment.

The draft said comparisons between business prerequisites before and afteralterations as of the end of 2019 must be made public within the first quarterof  2020.

According to Nguyen Minh Thao from the Central Institute of EconomicManagement, who was in charge of compiling the resolution, many ministriesreported they had been aided by the removal and simplification of businessrules.

However, Thao said several removals and simplifications did not make thingsbetter.

For example, Thao pointed out that in labour safety evaluation, before reforms,licences were granted by the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs,but now involved by ten ministries.

“If we don’t have comparisons – a comprehensive look, we could hardly evaluatewhether the reforms are good or not,” Thao said.

Despite significant efforts and improvements in recent years, Vietnam’sbusiness climate and competitiveness remains relatively low at fifth in ASEAN.

In ASEAN, Vietnam comes after Singapore (which ranks second in the world),Malaysia (12th), Thailand (21st) and Brunei (66th).

The draft targets Vietnam jumping by five to seven spots in the ranking of theWorld Bank about ease of doing business next year from the current 70thposition.

Thao said this would be not easy because no any economies stand still.

In the 2019 ranking, Vietnam earned higher scores but lost one spot becauseother economies moved faster.

Thao said the draft would raise a number of detailed measures to improve the

business climate

, focusing on improving the country’s rankings of indicatorslike starting a business, paying taxes, dealing with construction permits,getting credit and protecting minority investors.

Focus will be placed on completing the draft Law on Enterprise, promotingonline public services and cashless payments.

Thao said the success of the resolution would be evaluated by enterprises andinvestors.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at a meeting with enterprises early thisweek that the resolution would be issued soon./.VNA