Hanoi (VNA) – The Government’s Resolution No.19/NQ-CP has broughtabout remarkable improvements in business environment and national competitivecapacity, creating more favourable conditions for business operation of localenterprises, after five years of implementation.

Theprogress in Vietnamese business climate has been recorded in the World Bank’sDoing Business reports for many consecutive years, as seen in the country’srising in the rankings of market participation, business establishment,electricity access and tax registration.

Accordingto Nguyen Thi Minh Thao, head of the Central Institute of Economic andManagement CIEM’s Business Environment and Competitiveness Department,Vietnam’s position in the WB’s Doing Business rankings have improvedremarkably, from 78th position in 2014 to 68th in 2017and 69th in 2018. She added that despite dropping one place in 2018, Vietnam’s overall score increased1.59 points, and its net score had improved in eight out of 10 categories.

However, the country had failed to reach the average standards of the top fourcountries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms ofbusiness environment, Thao said, explaining that there remain many irrationalbusiness conditions, and the management system is still cumbersome.

Hailing the Vietnamese Government’s efforts in administrative reform andinvestment attraction, Mark Gillin, Head of Tax & Customs of WB Working Group,said that more work should be done to better the implementation of tax andcustoms policies, which have big impacts on businesses’ decision to makeinvestment or expansion in Vietnam.

He suggested the Government be more transparent in tax and custom policies.

Sharing the same viewpoint, President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce andIndustry Vu Tien Loc said that instead of relying on direct interference in theform of documents or tax measures, the Government should use its policies toorient the market and promote the development of companies, especially thesmall-and medium-sized enterprises. In the long term, policy initiatives willbring more sustainable outcomes than financial interference measures, he said.

The Government onJanuary 1, 2019 issued Resolution No 02/NQ-CP replacing Resolution 19, settingtargets for improving business environment and national competitiveness for2019 through to 2021. It replaces. The renumbering of the resolutiondemonstrated the Government’s priority in fostering the quality of Vietnam’sbusiness environment.

The move aims to realise the target to get Vietnam into the top four countries withthe best business environment in ASEAN by 2021.-VNA