Hanoi strives to maintain its Top-10 status in Vietnam’s provincial competitiveness index (PCI) ranking in the future, which was achieved for the first time in 2018, according to Nguyen Doan Toan, vice chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee.
Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Doan Toan.
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The report, jointly launched by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has been announced annually since 2005 to assess the ease of doing business, economic governance, and administrative reform efforts by the provincial and city governments in Vietnam in order to promote the development of the private sector.
“Hanoi’s ranking has been consistently going up in six consecutive years, up 41 places from 51st in 2012 to 9th in 2018,” Toan stated, adding the result has exceeded original target of being included in top 10 PCI index ranking by 2020 set by the municipal People Council.
Fourteen years since its first launch, the PCI index has been an important reference channel of the business community for Hanoi, especially when the city considers the private sector an essential part in its economic development strategy, Toan continued.
“Improvement of the PCI ranking is Hanoi’s top priority,” he said.
According to Toan, Hanoi would continue to reform administrative procedures in all districts and communes, while facilitating the development of e-government.
As of present, 100% applications for business registration can be processed online, while the processing time for administrative procedures has been reduced to within three working days, and in some cases to two days.
Starting August 2018, Hanoi has waived the cost of setting up new businesses and provided training courses for individual households on start-up and corporate governance.
Notably, Hanoi claimed the top spot nationwide in terms of FDI attraction with registered capital of US$7.5 billion in 2018, accounting for 21.2% of total foreign investment nationwide.
In the first quarter of 2019, the city maintained the lead with US$4.15 billion of FDI commitments, or 38.4% of total investment, Toan informed.
