Efforts to Improve Business Environment

The issuance of Resolution 02/NQ-CP on continuing to perform key tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness in 2020 is considered a new push to facilitate business.

Improving the ranking of business environment indicators

For six consecutive years from 2014 to 2019, the Government has continuously issued five resolutions on improving the business environment and improving national competitiveness. The implementation of these resolutions has helped to improve the business environment of Vietnam.

In 2019, most of Vietnam's general indexes improved. National competitiveness increased by 3.5 points and 10 grades with 8/12 pillars rising and increasing by many steps. The innovation index increased by three places with 6/7 pillar groups gaining points. Business environment improved by 1.2 points. Tourism competitiveness improved by four levels. However, the quality of business environment and competitiveness of Vietnam is still low, ranking 5th or 6th in ASEAN, which requires continued strong reform efforts to achieve the goal of the top 4 ASEAN countries.

In order to create a drastic change in the business environment, improve competitiveness and labor productivity, contribute to the successful achievement of objectives and tasks of the socio-economic development plan in 2020 according to the Resolution of the National Assembly, the Government issued Resolution 02/NQ-CP following Resolution 02 (2019) and Resolutions 19 (from 2014 to 2018) on improving the business environment and improving national competitiveness.

According to the Resolution, in 2020 Vietnam strives for improving the ease of doing business index (EoDB of the World Bank) up to 10 levels; competitiveness under GCI (of the World Economic Forum - WEF) to five levels; innovation under the Global Innovation Index - GII rating (of the World Intellectual Property Organization - WIPO) - up to 3-4 levels; and E-government (of the United Nations - UN) up 10-15 levels.

Regarding specific targets, the Resolution stated: Raising the ranking of Tax payment and Social insurance index (A2) up to 7-10 ranks; Improving the score and maintaining the construction permit index (A3); shortening the actual construction license time to 120 days; Improving scores and maintaining credit rating index (A4); Upgrading the rating of Investor Protection (A5) to 7-10 ranks; Upgrading the Index of cross-border trade transactions (A8) to 5-10 levels.

Many new points

This year's resolution highlights seven key tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness. It added solutions focusing on areas that have hardly been improved for many years, with the goal of reducing costs and time for businesses, especially substantially reducing business expenses and time, especially expenses in inspection activities.

In addition, for the first time, the Resolution requires ministries and ministerial-level agencies to update and publicize administrative procedures related to the granting of business eligibility certificates that have been simplified in 2018 and 2019; publish the comparison table of business conditions before and after the abolition, and completion in the first quarter of 2020; studying and proposing amendments to relevant laws to abolish and simplify business conditions prescribed in specialized laws according to the approved plan. The Resolution also assigned the Chairman of the provincial People's Committee to direct the implementation of the regulations to simplify business conditions, without setting additional business conditions in any form; strictly handle officials and public employees who fail to fully and strictly comply with the new regulations on business conditions.

As an organization representing the business community, VCCI will continue to investigate and publish the PCI, assessing the satisfaction of businesses in areas such as tax, customs, social insurance, access to electricity; combine, integrate the evaluation of results and impacts of the Government's Resolutions on improving business environment, improving national competitiveness; summarizing the obstacles that businesses propose; presiding over the implementation of the enterprise support program for sustainable development, scaling up the application of the set of sustainable business index (CSI) in the business community; promoting private participation in public-private partnerships and capacity building programs for business associations; directly reporting to the Prime Minister.

With these new features, the business community is put in center and benefiting more. Experts expect that in the second consecutive year of promulgating Resolution 02 and the seventh year of reform, the Government will create a new measure of improving the business environment and improving national competitiveness, making an important contribution to the successful achievement of socio-economic development goals in the last year of the term.

Thu Ha