State Bank of Vietnam building in Hanoi. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.
The Vietnamese government on Friday announced a reform push that it said is focused on improving the nation’s business environment, strengthening its business competitiveness, and improving its economy over the next two years in an effort to better compete against regional peers, Vietnam’s national radio broadcaster reports.
Among a number of proposals by the government include reforms that would cut time-consuming and wasteful administrative procedures, enhancing governmental offices’ transparency and accountability, and adopt new regulations.
The government said that it aimed to reduce the time needed for businesses to complete tax-payment to 121.5 hours per year (from 872 hours in 2013 and 537 hours in 2014) in addition to easing customs-declaration procedures.
Priority will be given to the development of high-value industries and services, including banking and finance, oil-and-gas production and refining, transportation and tourism, and communications, the government said.
The government said that it also aims to restructure its agriculture sector to enhance product quality and competitiveness, restructure more state-owned enterprises while using preferential policies to stimulate private growth, in addition to privatizing a number of public services.
Ministries, sectors, cities, and provinces in Vietnam were ordered by the government to take necessary steps to improve their investment and business environments, and resolve any impediments in the implementation of administrative procedures.
The Government plans to run a pilot program soon to test a number of these projects by using a public-private partnership approach.
ASEAN member nations
The government aims to raise the nation’s business environment indicator to higher than the ASEAN average.
ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic organisation of ten Southeast Asian countries, which was formed on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Since then, membership has expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam. Its aims include accelerating economic growth, social progress, and sociocultural evolution among its members, protection of regional peace and stability, and opportunities for member countries to discuss differences peacefully.
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