The northern province of Quang Ninh announced its District and Department Competitiveness Index (DDCI) in 2021 during a conference in Ha Long city on January 20.

Among 22 departments and sectors, the Department of Customs took the first position with 78.48 points, while Quang Yen township led 13 district-level localities across the province with 79.83 points.

2021 was the seventh year that Quang Ninh had conducted DDCI assessments, which also aimed to gather feedback from businesses on administrative services of each department and sector, as well as the province’s logistics services.

Last year, online DDCI evaluation platform was applied and received good feedback from the local business community thanks to its convenience, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The DDCI rankings were based on the evaluation of 1,972 businesses, cooperatives and business households.

Particularly, there was only a small difference in the scores of the departments and localities on the top and at the bottom of the rankings, showing the high level of satisfaction of the local business community with the province’s efforts in improving its business and investment environment and competitiveness.

Addressing the conference, Pham Tan Cong, President of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), pledged that that the VCCI will continue to cooperate with Quang Ninh, the country’s leading locality in DDCI in four consecutive years, in improving its business and investment environment and competitiveness as well as building business culture towards the target of a strong business community with effective integration and sustainability.

Nguyen Xuan Ky, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, said that the province will continue to standardise and complete the DDCI and seek new ideas for 2022./.