Hanoi (VNA)🧸 – Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has asked for amending overlapping regulations, including the operations of government units as part of administrative reform efforts for the new tenure.

Chairing a meeting of the Steering Committee for Administrative Reform in Hanoi on January 19 to review its 2015 activities and launch 2016 tasks, Phuc said administrative procedure is one of the four areas under major reform, including judicial affairs, education and wages, which were set by the 10 th and 11 th National Party Congresses. In his capacity as head of the committee, the Deputy PM hailed its members, including the Ministry of Home Affairs for closely directing the 2015 action plan in achieving expected results. The institutional reform also proved successful with the promulgation of 27 laws and hundreds of decrees and circulars, alongside the new regulations on personal identification and civil registration. About tasks for this year, Phuc asked ministries, agencies and localities to continue executing the comprehensive programme on State administrative reform and improving the efficiency of administrative system. Stressing the need of institutional reform, he demanded that the Law on Government Organisation, and the Law on Local Administration, which came into force from January 1, 2016, must be put in place; adding that the Ministry of Home Affairs must ensure the progress and quality of the project on government restructuring. On track to achieving administrative reform goals, units concerned were urged to improve the capacity of civil cadres, and the quality of one-stop shop model using technological advances. He suggested establishing a public administrative service centre, inviting private investment into public services, as well as piloting autonomy mechanisms in several units concerned. Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Anh Tuan, deputy head of the committee, reported at the event that as of December 2015, more than 4,400 out of 4,700 procedures were simplified. The customs clearance duration was reduced from 21 days to 14 days for exports, and 13 days for imports. The total tax filing time was cut to 117 hours from 537 hours. The Vietnam automated cargo and port consolidated system, and the Vietnam customs intelligence information system, were also instrumental in overhauling Vietnam’s customs procedures to a level on par with ASEAN+6 countries in late 2015.-VNA