Specifically, the country slipped from the 56^th position to 60^th this year on the 138-economy ladder topped by Switzerland, Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany.

Speaking at the press conference following the Cabinet meeting on October 4, Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said the Government and the Prime Minister have paid special attention to improve business environment and national competitiveness over the past years.

The Government issued resolutions which figure out objectives, tasks and solutions to improve business environment and national competitiveness in the past consecutive years and established a national council for sustainable development, he added.

As a result, Viet Nam’s business environment has improved positively in reality but the pace of progress has been slower than that of other countries, especially the indicators related to technology readiness, innovation, quality, and infrastructure.

The index shows that Viet Nam needs to double efforts in the context of increasingly fiercer competition on the global scale, Minister-Chairman Dung admitted.

Regarding the upcoming measures, Mr. Dung said the Government will continue accelerating the implementation of measures enshrined in the aforesaid resolutions, raising the quality of institutions, effectively realizing the master plan on restructuring the economy, and heightening technological and innovation capacity of businesses.

VGP