An officer of Mong Cai Border Gate Customs Sub-Department (Quang Ninh Customs Department) supervises exported goods through the Km34 pontoon bridge open path. Photo: Thai Binh

According to the report of Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2021 just announced by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) on April 27, Quang Ninh continues to be in the top position for the 5th year in a row.

Speaking about the province's experiences, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, said that achieving this result was a process of tenacious and continuous effort with innovation and development to build a government of integrity, action and service.

“The province has always identified private economic development as an important driving force for development, thereby maintaining the commitment and trust, putting itself in the position of an investor to understand, share and accompany enterprises," said Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky.

Accordingly, the leaders of Quang Ninh province set out the motto "truth year" for state agencies and officials in the province to implement, which is to behave sincerely so that enterprises think truthfully - enterprises tell the truth – authorities act truthfully - the efforts of the province have truthful results - and people and enterprises benefit.

In addition to the initiative to build the Department and District Competitiveness Index (DDCI) a few years ago, in 2021, the province also established a Working Group to support investment projects using non-budget capital in Quang Ninh province (Investor Care Group) to grasp the problems that investors faced and to actively solve difficulties.

Appreciating these efforts, Mr. Pham Van The, Chairman of Quang Ninh Business Association, said that the province's reform methods for business activities had always been innovative year by year.

Provincial leaders also continuously had programs to meet enterprises, to solve problems wherever they were.

In particular, in the PCI ranking of 2021, Hai Phong city has risen to 2nd position - the highest position so far. The reason is efforts to promptly remove obstacles arising in production and business activities through direct monthly dialogues between enterprises and leaders of the City People's Committee and functional departments and agencies.

Hai Phong City has also established an Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center as a focal point under the "one-stop" model for investment activities, contributing to attracting large domestic and foreign investors. As a result, in 2021, the city not only attracted many large domestic investment projects but also rose to the top in attracting foreign direct investment.

With a "sustainable" locality in terms of quality of the business environment like Dong Thap (14 years in the top five localities), not only continues to promote the initiative of "Entrepreneur Coffee", the provincial leaders also open expand more activities to support start-ups and improve the management capacity of business households.

Similarly, Danang City has established an interdisciplinary working group to remove the difficulties and obstacles for construction investment projects.

Commenting on the improvement efforts of Bac Ninh province, Mr. Nguyen Phuong Bac, Director of the Institute for Socio-Economic Development Research of Bac Ninh province, said that the local government had made efforts to improve issues related to inputs for production and business.

However, the province should continue to improve on the market entry index, and consider the application of information technology and digital transformation as the main pillars of administrative reform.

Among the last ranked localities, Dak Nong province has made great efforts when gradually rising from the last position in 2018 to position 52 in 2021. Mr. Ho Van Muoi, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of Dak Nong Provincial People's Committee said the province had identified three pillars for economic development including industry, high-tech agriculture and tourism, to come up with policies and solutions to stimulate business development and investment attraction. In addition, the province also focused on education and vocational training to help enterprises have more resources to develop.

Commenting on the improvement of localities, Mr. Pham Tan Cong, Chairman of VCCI, said that in the difficult context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the business community had recognized the efforts of the Government, ministries, branches and authorities at all levels to accompany the business community.

However, efforts to reform institutions, especially to improve the quality of economic governance, and to facilitate the business environment for enterprises' operations need to be an important, regular task and well-executed implementation from the central to the local level.

Mr. Pham Tan Cong also recommended that authorities at all levels needed to promptly, substantively and effectively deploy business support programs within the framework of the Law on Support for Small and Medium Enterprises, which still had modest effectiveness. Domestic enterprises also need to have more favourable access to information and full instructions to take advantage of the benefits of free trade agreements.

“2022 is a year of overcoming difficulties and also a year of reform, continuing to unlock resources for the business community so that the Vietnamese economy can breakthrough faster. The cooperation and efforts of all parties will create "new vitality" for the Vietnamese economy in general and the domestic business community in particular," the VCCI Chairman said.