Vietnam’s business climate positive with decisive steps

With a strong push from the government, ministries have so far cut 968 business conditions and 1,700 lines of goods subject to specialized examination.
  Nearly 30 cities and provinces have established public administrative centers to solve administrative procedures for people and enterprises to meet the government’s requirements in applying the ‘one-stop shop’ mechanism.
The time for direct customs clearance at Vietnam’s border gates has been also reduced by three hours (from 58 to 55 hours) for exports and by six hours (from 62 to 56 hours) for imports. The cost for direct customs clearance at the border gates for a goods package has been reduced by US$19.
It is estimated that with more than 11 million customs declarations yearly, enterprises can save more than US$200 million on customs clearance. Enterprises also save more than 16 million hours of storage for exports with 5.36 million export declarations, and more than 34 million hours of storage for imports with 5.72 million import declarations.
The significant improvements in Vietnam’s business environment have been so far hailed by international institutions.  
In the World Bank’s 2018 Ease of Doing Business rankings, Vietnam has moved up 23 notches, from the 91st to the 68th place out of 190 economies.
Also according to the World Bank, the logistics index of Vietnam has been ranked 39th out of 160 nations in 2018, up 25 places against 2016. In 2016 and 2017, Vietnam was among the four ASEAN economies showing the highest indexes on cross-border goods trading.
The World Economic Forum also raised Vietnam’s national competitiveness index for 2017-2018 by five ranks compared to 2016, from 60th to 55th out of 137 nations and territories.
Vietnam’s sustainable development index was also up 11 places to 57th among of 156 nations and territories, the third rank in the ASEAN.
In a survey released recently by the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (EuroCham), Vietnam gained 84 points for the second quarter of 2018 in the Business Climate Index (BCI), up six points from the previous quarter.
Nicolas Audier, Co-Chairman of EuroCham, said the results revealed European companies and investors remain confident in Vietnam. The fact that EuroCham members have now exceeded 1,000 reinforces this positive message and shows Vietnam is open for business as an attractive trade and investment destination.
Further reforms underway
To further facilitate firms in doing businesses in the country, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has recently asked ministries to continue speeding up the administrative reforms.
Accordingly, ministries must hasten the review and removal of red tape so that more than 2,800 business conditions and 3,000 lines of goods subject to specialized examination will be cut or simplified soon.
To meet the prime minister’s requirements, Mai Tien Dung, minister and chairman of the Government Office, said that the compilation of decrees on cutting unnecessary business condition must be issued in October.
In addition, Dung said, more solutions to reduce costs for enterprises must be applied, such as the provision of public online services in solving issues related to enterprises, the deployment of the national public service portal and the national one-stop shop, the ASEAN Single Window, as well as the reception and settlement of recommendations and feedback of people and enterprises.
Government agencies must also organize periodical dialogues with the business community, Dung said, adding the role of the prime minister’s Consultancy Council for Administrative Procedure Reform in proposing initiatives for reforming mechanisms, policies and administrative procedures must be promoted.