TO: THE GOVERNMENT 

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam (VCCI) is pleased to report on the implementation of tasks assigned in the Resolution 35 / NQ-CP dated 16 May 2016 by the Government on supporting and developing enterprises to 2020, solving difficulties, problems and recommendations of enterprises in the first quarter  2018 as follows:

I.RESPONDING RECOMMENDATIONS ACCORDING TO THE RESOLUTION No. 35 / NQ-CP OF MINISTRIES AND  BRANCHES IN THE FIRST QUARTER2018

1. Responding to the recommendations summarized by the Government’sOffice

- In January 2018, VCCI received 14 documents from 10 ministries, branches and localities to respond to businesses’ recommendations (summarized in VCCI's Report No. 0228 / PTM-VP dated 9 February of the VCCI on the  Resolution 35 in January 2018).

- In February 2018, VCCI received 24 documents from 9 ministries,branches and localities to respond to the recommendations of businessess (summarized in Report No. 0477 / PTM-VP dated March 19 of the VCCI on the  Resolution 35 in February 2018).

- In March 2018, the VCCI received 9 documents from 5 ministries, branches and localities to respond to businesses’ recommendations.

Totally in first quarter 2018, the VCCI received 45 responded documents to recommendations from ministries, branches and localities. These documents were fully disclosed on the website of the VCCI as stipulated in the Resolution 35.

The written responses to recommendations of businesses that the VCCI received in March 2018 were as follows:

1.1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment

The Ministry of Planning and Investment had 3 official letters responding to businesses’ recommendations with the following contents: Guiding the law on conditions for individuals participating in bidding activities and guiding provisions of law on the first private companies in the form of public-private partners, provisions of the law on the acceptance and completion of works and be launched ...

1.2. The Ministry of Finance

The Ministry of Finance had 3 written responses to businesses’ recommendations on the following contents: Guiding the provisions of law on the determination of capital sources for foundation of execution of investment and construction projects; the determination of cement is a taxable product and subject to export tax or not; the reduction of land rental for businesses ...

1.3. Some ministries, branches and localities:

- The Ministry of Science and Technology hereby issued a written response to the request of the Pha Ta Co Co., Ltd on the term of protection of inventions, utility solutions and industrial designs; the deadline for the grant of protection certificates; taking measures to speed up the processing of applications.

- The Ministry of Construction responded to the Vietnam Advertising Association's recommendation on the decentralization of the licensing of construction of advertising works; The promulgation of guidelines for the implementation of the Vietnamese Standards (amended and supplemented) on the construction and the installation of outdoor advertising means; How to deal with advertising works that have been implemented under the 2001 Ordinance on sdvertisment.

- The Hanoi People's Committee directed the settlement of the recommendation of the Ha Tay Passenger Automobile Joint Stock Company

1.4. Responded recommendations that VCCI summarized and sent to the Government’s Office:

In January 2018,, VCCI received 6 documents responding to 9 recommendations. In February 2018, VCCI received 3 documents responding to 2 recommendations. In March, the VCCI received 5 responded documents to recommendations of businesses. These recommendations were sent by the VCCI to ministries and sectors from 2017 to the end of February 2018. The written responses to recommendations that the VCCI received were posted on the VCCI’s  website and conveyed to the businesses that recommended.

Thus, on March 31, 2018, the recommendations that have not received the specific responses are as follows:

- 29 recommendations that VCCI gathered in 2017 include:

+ 04 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the Report No. 1389 / PTM-VP dated June 13, 2017 that VCCI summarized by businesses in May 2017 are the responsibility of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment , the Lao Cai People's Committee, the Ha Tinh People's and the Ministry of Industry and Trade

+ 02 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the second quarter 2017 Report No Q2 / QD No. 1680 / PTM-VP dated July 17, 2017 of the VCCI in response to the People's Committee of Lao Cai Province and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

+ 03 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the July Report No 2047 / PTM-VP dated August 21, 2017 of the VCCI are the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and the People's Committees of the Tien Giang and the Lang Son Provinces for responses

+ 01 recommendation in the Annex 1,  of the August Report No 2360 / PTM-VP dated September 21, 2017 of the VCCI is the responsibility of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs for responses

+ 02 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the third quarter 2017 Report No. 2708 / PTM-VP dated October  20, 2017 2017 of the VCCI are the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Security and the Hanoi People's Committee for responses

+ 02 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the November Report No. 3121 / PTM-VP dated November 20, 2017 of VCCI are the responsiblity for answering the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs; Transportation for responses

+ 01 recommendation in the Annex 1 of the November Report No. 3353 / PTM-VP dated December 14, 2017 of the VCCI is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance for responses

+ 13 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the fourth quarter Report No. 139A / PTM-VP dated January 23, 2008 of the VCCI were responded by the MOST, the MOLISA and the Vietnam Social Security.

- 6 recommendations summarized by the VCCI in January and February 2018 include:

+ 2 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the January Report No. 0228 / PTM-VP dated February 9, 2018 of the VCCI are the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, MoNRE, Da Nang People's Committee for responses.

+ 4 recommendations in the Annex 1 of the February Report No. 0477 / PTM-VP dated 19/3/2018 of the VCCI are the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, Transportation, Construction, Foreign Affairs for responses

2. Recommendations that Government’s Office  informed to the VCCI

- In January 2018, , the VCCI received 41 recommendations of businesses from the  Government’s Office through the system of receiving and responding to recommendations of businesses on the Government's electronic portal. By March 31 2018, there were 30 recommendations submitted by ministries, sectors and localities. There were 11 recommendations that were not responded (see attached list in the Annex 2). In which, all recommendations were overdue for responses

- In February 2018, VCCI received 30 recommendations from the Government’s Office through the system of receiving and responding to recommendations of businesses on the Government's electronic portal. By March 31, 2018, there were 26 recommendations that be responded by ministries, sectors and localities. There were 4 recommendations that be not   responded (see attached list in Annex 2). In which, all recommendations were overdue for responses.

- In March, 2018, VCCI received 57 recommendations of businesses from the Government’s Office through the system of receiving and responding to recommendations of businesses’on the Government's electronic portal. By March 31, 2018, there were 8 recommendation responded by ministries, branches and localities. There were only 49 recommendation that be not responded. (list attached as the Annex 3), some of recommendation were overdue for responses.

Thus, in the first quarter of the year, the VCCI has received 128 recommendations  from  the Government’s Office via the system of receiving and responding to the recommendations of enterprises on the Government's electric portal. According to the VCCI, by March 31, 2018, there were 64 recommendations responded by ministries, branches and localities, accounting for 50%. There were 64 recommendations that not be responded and accounted for 50%. Most of these recommendations were overdue as provided by the Office of the Government, many recommendations were submitted many months ago but the ministries, branches and localities were not responded, so the Government’s Office had to issue the official letters to remind and urge for their answers, there were eight recommendation submitted by ministries, branches and localities. There were only 49 recommendation that be not responded. (list attached as Annex 3), some recommendations were  overdue for responses.

3. Assessment of business community on some reforms by the Government:

The business community appreciates the Prime Minister that issued the Directive No. 07 / CT-TTg on further promoting and implementing effectively the Resolution No. 35 / NQ-CP dated May 16, 2016 on support and development of businesses up to 2020 and the Government’s Prime Minister's Directive No. 26 / CT-TTg dated June 6, 2017 on further implementation of the Resolution No. 35 / NQ-CP dated 16 May 2016 in line with the spirit of the Government in co-operation with businesses in 2018, in which detailed tasks for each ministry and industry must be implemented in 2018 to further improve the investment and business environment – has increasingly created favorable conditions for businesses.

Business community has believed in 2018, the business environment, investment will continue to improve smoothly, create confidence and conditions for production and business development further. The construction of the government as the Government’s Prime Minister has set out the results are exciting. In addition to the number of newly registered enterprises rising in 2016-2017 and continuing increase in the first quarter of 2018, the GDP’s growth in the first quarter of 2018 was 7.38% higher than the same period last year. most compared to Q1 in the past 10 years. The business community has recognized that this is the result of the drastic instructions from the Government and local authorities to create the most favorable conditions to support enterprises ...

In the first quarter 2018, the business community and the public appreciated a number of measures to reduce barriers, business conditions, sub-licenses of the Government and some ministries,

- The Ministry of Information and Communications submited to the Government the Decree No. 27/2018 / ND-CP, which cuts 11 business conditions, 19 administrative procedures in the field of electronic information compared with Decree No. 72 aimed to create a more favorable  investment and business environment for businesses.

- The Ministry of Health submited to the Government for promulgation of the Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety, which has created many favorable conditions for businesses  on registration procedures. product release; specialized examination of food. It is estimated that the implementation of Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP will help enterprises saving 90% of time and effort in the implementing administrative procedures.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOCI) has continued to set the goal of reducing and simplifying 43 administrative procedures in the total of 452 administrative procedures at current.

The Ministry of Transport shall review the business conditions in the field of communications and transport, which are expected to amend and abolish many business conditions in the current regulations with urgent objectives in 2018 is to minimize the business conditions, specialized inspection, unnecessary administrative procedures to create favorable conditions for businesses and people, to promote socio-economic development, especially procedures related to the import - export of goods under the management of the Ministry.

However, according to the assessment of the working group of the Government’s Prime Minister, many ministries still not resolute in reducing business conditions, administrative procedures and the Government’s Prime Minister has to remind: As the Ministry of Health still have 802 import and export items must be specialized, new reduced in the list of products in the field of food safety, that still have more than 400 items need to be cut, located in the field of medical equipment, pharmaceuticals ... Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has not reviewed 128 items as well as 37 sets of administrative procedures. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has 132 items that have not yet proposed to cut specialized inspection; have not yet completed land use planning and land use plan until 2030 in time as assigned by the government’s Prime Minister. The Ministry of Transportation has 127 items that have not been proposed for cutting, so it is recommended to cut with at least 64 new items to reach the target of 50% reduction of specialized inspection procedures as directed by the Prime Minister, there are 9 Ministry of administrative procedures have not proposed cutting, in which there are 5 sets of procedures that need to be proposed for consideration...

 II. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RESOLUTION No. 35 / NQ-CP OF THE VCCI

In the first quarter of 2018, the VCCI carried out the following tasks:

1. Implemented activities that contributing to administrative reform, creating favorable conditions and a favorable environment to support start-up and innovative businesses; ensuring business rights, equal access to resources and business opportunities of businesses;reducing business costs and protect the legitimate rights and interestsfor businesses:

- Consulted the business community to comment on many important legal documents and draft legal documents such as the Law t amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on the handling of administrative violations; the Law on Urban Management; the Law on higher education reform ... and many other sub-law documents and policies of ministries and branches related to the operation of enterprises.

- Coordinated organizing many forums, conferences, seminars and important dialogues to discuss the proposed policies and laws with the Party and the State relating to socio-economic development and environmental improvement, business investment and support to business community’s development. Some outstanding activities were such as:

+ Coordinated with the Central Theoretical Council to organize a scientific workshop on "competitiveness of the economy: Rationale bases, international experience and policy implications for Vietnam". The workshop was a part of the Research Project on Enhancing Competitiveness of the Economy and chaired by the Central Theoretical Council (VCCI). The workshop focused on six issues: The First is a policy institution, the Government should continue to take drastic action on legal reform and administrative reform to facilitate enterprise. The second is industrial policy and the development of markets, currently industrial policy is not effective, hasn’t got a nature of leading the economy. The Third is the transfer of public services. The fourth is SOE equitization and restructuring that be an important requirement because state-owned businesses are currently ineffective. The fifth is the transformation from agricultural activities to industry and services, this is a key factor because 40% of GDP is still in agriculture, 60% of the workforce in this area, if the transformation is able to do, it will be an important factor for promoting productivity. The sixth is the transformation of individual business households into businesses, individual areas with low productivity, when transformation, it also aimed to improving labor productivity in our country.

Coordinated with the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) and Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) and 7 business associations held a dissemination conference Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP. Detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Food Safety. Compared with the previous Decree No. 38/2012 / ND-CP, the Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP has created favorable conditions for enterprises to register their products, specialized examination of food. The Decree 15 is considered as a big step forward by the Ministry of Health in reforming administrative procedures and cutting down specialized inspection procedures in the field of food. In addition to expanding the non-inspection area for products, the method of inspection of imported products is much lower than the Decree 38, examining only up to 5% of the total imports. Around 1 year is randomly selected by the customs office. In addition, the Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP also assigned businesses to take responsibility for the products they produce, to strengthen the post-inspection instead of the previous inspection. It is estimated that the implementation of the Decree No. 15/2018 / ND-CP will help businesses to save 90% of time and effort in implementing administrative procedures, to save 10,000 working days and VND 10,000 billions.. At the same time, this also helps to reduce the price of food and brings practical benefits to consumers

+ Coordinated organizing the publication of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) in 2017. This report was based on the results of a survey of 10,245 domestic private businesses in 63 provinces and cities, in which there were 2,003 newly established businesses in 2016 and 2017 as well as  1,765 foreign-invested businesses coming from 47 countries operating in 21 provinces and cities of Vietnam. The highlight of the PCI report in 2017 was the increase in the number of cities and provinces in comparison with 2016. Compared to previous years, the Government has spent more time to solve problems and obstacles for businesses.  Unofficial fees tending to be improved positively. the business environment is more equal and the quality of solving administrative procedures is changing positively. This marks an improvement in the impressive performance of the localities under the drastic direction of the government.

After 4 consecutive years, the Da Nang City ranked at the top of the PCI rank in 2017, the  Quang Ninh Province  rose to the top of the rank. The Quang Ninh Province has also been consistently ranked among the top five provinces and cities in the country since 2013. The PCI 2017 report also noted the reform efforts of other provinces and cities as all provinces and cities increased points in comparison with 2016, in particular, for the first time, all five cities under the central government, including Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho Cities were included in the list of 15 localities that had highest PCI rank. This shows that the Government's drastic measures to improve the business environment have achieved lot of results  The change of the local government towards the improvement of the business environment is clear.

 + Coordinated with the Ministry of Construction in organizing a "meeting to listen to difficulties and propose solutions to remove mechanisms and policies related to investment and construction" under the chair of the President of VCCI and Minister of Construction. The conference attracted the participation of representatives of corporations, general companies, businesses and business associations in the field of construction. The comments reflected the difficulties encountered during the implementation of projects related to capital construction investment, from the preparation of investment projects to the implementation and management of projects. Many legal regulations are inadequate, or overlapping  or unreasonable leading to difficult implementation process such as: lack of legal corridor for condotel; it has not been  institutionalized the payment guarantee in the construction contract; suspension planning, arbitrary planning adjustments still occur; The lack of inter-procedural coordination with other sectors such as land, fire protection and environmental protection; application of unit price norms is not suitable with reality, especially works without using state capital; construction permits and procedures for grant and adjustment are still complicated.

+ Coordinated organizing many activities to improve the business environment, created favorable conditions for businesses such as the workshop to collect opinions on the drafted Law on Investment in the form of public-private partnerships; consultation workshop on the list of reviewing business conditions in the field of transport; conference on dialogue with businesses on tax policies, tax administrative procedures and guidance on tax finalization 2017 in Thanh Hoa Province.

+ Joined the working group of the Government’s Prime Minister to inspect the performance of tasks assigned by the Government or the Government’s Prime Minister at the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Education and Training.

- Continued implementing the Action Program on implementation of the business integrity:

+ Organized a consultation workshop entitled "Promoting Corporate Integrity Initiatives: From Perception to Action" to share, discuss and advise opinions of related parties on some major findings of the drafted report "Evaluating Collective Initiatives for Promoting Integrity in Business; ways of practical approach to enhance the involvement of business community in corruption prevention and control". The workshop attracted nearly 100 delegates from ministries, sectors, the domestic and foreign business community, business associations, international organizations and the media. The discussions at the workshop largely confirmed that only a supportive mechanism facilitates the establishment of closer cooperation between the state and businesses, Basic anti-corruption work, especially in business transactions. At present, the Government of Vietnam is studying and discussing the amendment of the Law on Anti-Corruption, so it is now considered as appropriate time to take initiatives and individual efforts to the integrity in business that was previously legalized, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of general anti-corruption efforts and enhancing business integrity in general.

+ Carried out a more in-depth assessment of the achievements and limitations of some recent anti-corruption’s initiatives in Viet Nam. At the same time, pointed out some key recommendations to the Government on an initiative of a coordinated solution to step by step outlining the medium-term action plan and anticorruption action in business. Since then, it has contributed to develop a transparent business environment in Vietnam and be a destination for honest business investors.

- Continued monitoring and guiding the professional activities of the employers 'representative to the local VCCI branches, the employers' councils at the local business associations when participating in the three parties involved in labor relations, especially involved in the settlement of labor disputes and cases of strikes that be  not in accordance with the law.

+ Organized a workshop on enterprise comments on the revised Labor Law 2012 in Danang City.

2. Carrying out trade and investment promotion activities as well as programs and projects to support raising the competitiveness ofbusinesses and business associations:

- Coordinated the Business Summit of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) on the occasion of the GMS Summit. Attending the Forum were the Government’s Prime Minister and senior leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, China and Vietnam; The President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the General Secretary of ASEAN, the Executive Director of the World Bank (WB), and representatives of nearly 100 international organizations and development partners and more than 2,000 enterprises from other countries. in the GMS. This is a prominent initiative of Vietnam as the host of the conference to promote dialogue between businesses and the state, connecting businesses in the region and the world. This initiative has received the approval of the GMS member countries, development partners and the business community. Under the theme "Looking for new economic growth drivers", the Forum attracted nearly 2,600 enterprises outside the GMS region, representing nearly 40 provinces and cities nationwide and many member countries.  The Forum included plenary sessions and thematic sessions focusing on pressing issues for the development of the GMS sector as identifying new drivers for economic growth in the context of the world economy. undergoing major changes; GMS economic integration, challenges and momentum to promote economic growth in the GMS; development of modern agriculture, information for the region; Developing and seeking funding for infrastructure in the region ..., in which the plenary session of policy dialogues of the forum was attended by the Prime Ministers of Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar’s Vice President, the Member of the State Council and the Foreign Minister of China.

- Coordinated organizing the Vietnam-Korea Business Forum during the visit of the President of the Republic of Korea to Vietnam. Attending and presiding over the Forum were the Korea’s President, President Tran Dai Quang and representatives of hundreds of businesses from both countries and the press agencies’ representatives. At present, more than 5,000 Korean businesses are investing in Vietnam. The investment of Korean enterprises in Vietnam has created millions of jobs and income for Vietnamese workers. Vietnam has also become one of Korea's four major trading partners. South Korea is also the number one investor in Vietnam. In the context of the Vietnam-Korea Business Forum, VCCI and KCCI signed a cooperation agreement to promote the implementation of the strategic partnership cooperation between the two sides and responded the South Korean’spolicies. . According to this agreement, the two sides will strengthen the existing cooperation mechanisms such as the Vietnam-Korea Economic Cooperation Committee, the Vietnam-Korea Business Forum; It will also focus on specific areas of cooperation, such as infrastructure development, supporting industries, high technology, intelligent agriculture  and innovation.

- Organized a 2018 Startup Festival which aimed to offer investment and award for projects to finalize the National Launching Competition in 2017. After many years of implementation, the contest has brought many new breakthrough in the way of organization. to expand the scale and efficiency. In 2017, 15 start-up companies have chosen to screen out 159 outstanding projects from 500 projects as well as business ideas of ​​1,500 candidates to participate in the National Startup Contest. In addition, there were a lot of units first time to participate in the national start-up network after receiving support from the Organizing Committee through the startup exchange activities, training  and guiding of finding ideas for startup such as: The Tien Giang,  Tay Ba and Thai Nguyen Universities ... At the 2017 Startup Festival, the offering investment activities with the participation of nearly 30 investors, investment funds in and out of the country for projects that commit will bring the real motivation as well as resources for the projects to overcome the initial difficulties in the process of developing businesses. In addition, at the Festival, projects will be linked to start-up organizations, nursery of start-ups, mentors and coaches of the National Startup Program so that projects can build their own complete suppors for an ecological system

-  Organized a signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in implementing the initiative of "Zero Waste to Nature" between VCCI and Unilever Vietnam Co. Ltd (UVN), Coca-Cola Vietnam Co., Ltd (CCBVL) and Dow Chemical Vietnam Co., Ltd (Dow). This was an initiative to implement the program to support businesses in implementing the circular economy in Vietnam. Recognizing the importance of the cyclical economy model in promoting sustainable development in Vietnam, VCCI has pioneered the development of a program to support the development of a revolving economy in Vietnam. The objectives of the program are to recommend recommendations of policies that facilitate the creation of a secondary material market, and to introduce good practices of businesses around the world to the business community in the country and support the implementation of initiatives based on the public-private partnership model, addressing environmental challenges and promoting sustainable growth. The participation in signing cooperation of the initiative of "Zero Waste to Nature" is part of the program to support businesses in implementing a circulating economy in Vietnam to promote the realization of the circular economy model. Contributing to solving environmental challenges and promoting sustainable growth. Because, if the business community continues to pursue a traditional linear economic model - where resources are exploited and used to produce goods and be discarded after use - then the world will face with a range of potential economic, social and environmental hazards.

- Organized "YouthSpark Live 2018". to support young people, students learn more knowledge and professional training of entrepreneurs. The forum was equipped with the skills necessary to start a business, conquer the employer and work in a modern environment. In Vietnam, YouthSpark has achieved impressive results in the past three years and created opportunities for more than 100,000 Vietnamese youth to be trained to improve their IT skills and computer science, to develop soft skills to be suitable for modern learning and working environment.

- Organized many trade and investment promotion activities within the framework of visits and working in countries of Party and State leaders as well as leaders of countries visiting and working in Vietnam or business delegations of countries coming to finding markets, seeking partners in Vietnam. A number of activities are as follows: Networking for businesses attending the INDUS FOOD 2018 Food Fair, the ASEAN-India Investment Summit; the Vietnam - India Trade Exchange; organized the "Vietnam-South Korea Electricity and Renewable Energy Forum"; Organized the "Vietnam-Japan Economic Dialogue" during the visit to Vietnam by a delegation of 50 senior leaders of Japanese enterprises; ...

3. Summarizing the difficulties and obstacles of enterprises:

In the first quarter of 2018, the VCCI continued receiving recommendations of businesses to convey to ministries and branches and localities. Through monitoring, the VCCI noticed some outstanding business issues in Q1 as follows:

- The Visa exemption for international tourists arriving in Vietnam: The extension of visa exemption for citizens of five European countries as well as the lifting of the visa exemption period up to 30 days instead of 15 days, to create favorable conditions for both business travelers and tourists in general; There should be a maximum of 72 hours transit time to encourage visitors to stay in the Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi City and be experienced about  Vietnam during break times; It is necessary to improve the visa exemption policy along with electronic visas and visa issuance at the border and not to replace visa exemption policies in other forms.

- Many businesses recommended that the insurance policies increase costs of the businesses.

- Businesses still have many problems in tax policy, difficulties in implementing tax administrative procedures, customs, refund procedures.

- Many businesses have recommended competent agencies to act in a timely manner to protect the ownership rights of inventions, innovations and industrial designs to avoid violations in the long term and causing great harm to businesses.

In March 2018, VCCI continued coordinating with ministries, localities and business associations to bring together new business recommendations. The list of new recommendations is presented in the Appendix 1.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Vietnam is pleased to report to the Government.