Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the third session of the Government’s Steering Committee for Administrative Reform. (Photo: VNA)

At the meeting, connected with 63 provinces and centrally-run cities via videoconference, participants reviewed the obtained results, pointed out shortcomings and difficulties, and proposed focal solutions and tasks for promoting the work.

The PM, who is also head of the steering committee, said administrative reform was identified by the Party and State as one of the targeted strategic breakthroughs.

It is meant to create favourable conditions for people and enterprises; reduce the time needed for civil servants and public employees to perform duties; help fight corruption and negative phenomena; cut down input costs and improve the competitiveness of goods and services; and create an open, transparent, and clean administrative environment, he noted.

Highlighting some key tasks for 2023 and beyond, he said 2023 is designated as the year of digital data, and the Government is aiming for a national data centre to be built, so all ministries, sectors, and localities must take actions to develop their own databases.

Administrative reform must be carried out strongly, constantly, and effectively in line with the Party’s guidelines and the State’s policies and laws, and put national interests above all, he said, asking ministries, sectors, and localities to step up administrative reform in tandem with innovation, digital transformation, and improvement of the business climate and the national competitiveness.

Prime Minister Chinh asked for focus on overhauling regulations, eliminating administrative procedures, cutting down time and administrative expenses, bettering the quality of online public services, and winning higher satisfaction from people and enterprises, the centre of administrative reform.

He demanded ministries, sectors, and localities set up concrete tasks and measures to make a breakthrough in administrative reform, adding that they need to strongly implement the programme on reducing and simplifying regulations on business activities for 2020 - 2025, boost the reform of administrative procedures, modernise leadership and governance methodology, reform the implementation of the single-window mechanism in handling administrative procedures, and continue reviewing business conditions to propose scrapping unnecessary, unfeasible, or vague ones.

The Government leader also told members of the steering committee to immediately get down to business to help achieve political and socio-economic targets for 2023.