A nationwide competition on reform initiatives for administrativeprocedures and electronic transactions in the field of social, healthand unemployment insurance was launched in Hanoi on June 18.

Initiatives should maximise time and cost savings in filing andprocessing e-payments for social, health and unemployment insurance oramend the existing regulations on administrative reform.

In order to garner wide-spread participation in the competition, themedia was asked to promote it strategically and honour outstandingindividuals along the way.

During his speech at thelaunch ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who is theHead of the Government Steering Committee for Administrative Reform,praised Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) for its keen determination tosupport the administrative reform process, which will have a significantimpact on workers and businesses.

The Deputy PM praised the sector for shortening formal procedures by 100 hours and cutting procedures from 263 to 115.

In preparation of the upcoming integration into ASEAN, the VSI hasreduced the time it takes to process social insurance payments to 49.5hours, which is on par with the ASEAN-6 average and marks a step towardsthe ASEAN-4 average level. E-transactions are expected to replacemanual transactions in 90 percent of organisations and businessesnationwide, he added.

The Deputy PM called upon theVSI to collect feedback from the public and closely cooperate with theMinistries of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; Health; Defence; andPublic Security, as well as the Bureau of Administrative ProcedureControl.

He also demanded that VSI work harder to remove red tape within the sector.

The award ceremony for the competition is slated for December 2015.

All entries should be submitted electronically tothicaicachTTHC-BHXH@vss.gov.vn or posted to VSI headquarters at 7Trang Thi street, Hanoi.

Further information can be found at www.baohiemxahoi.gov.vn.-VNA