There is still significant room for stronger reforms to create a more favourable business environment and make Vietnam among countries with the best business environment in ASEAN, according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

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At an event on January 12, VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc announced the report about Vietnam's business regulations in 2020, saying that Vietnam was among few countries recording positive economic growth last year.

Loc said drastic efforts in hastening institutional reforms and improving policies and mechanisms for enterprises helped the economy overcome difficulties as the COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected every socio-economic field.

The report, which looked at notable business regulations in 2020 with a focus on market entry and the legal framework for the digital economy, revealed that there were 17 laws, 158 decrees, 39 decisions and 310 circulars issued last year.

The number of circulars issued strongly decreased compared to previous years, which reflected that the quality of legal documents improved significantly, thus, it would not be necessary to issue too many circulars to provide instructions, VCCI pointed out.

About 55% of opinions of businesses were received and responded to, compared to 44.08% in 2019 and 42.51% in 2018, the report found.

“Policy-makers are paying more attention to enterprises’ opinions,” the report wrote, adding that the management thinking of policy-makers was witnessing renovations in recent years.

The current business legal system was not perfect, VCCI said, however. Some legal documents issued in 2020 still put in place unnecessary regulations which caused difficulties for businesses.

Dau Anh Tuan, head of the VCCI’s Legal Department, said that there were still overlaps, inconsistencies and a lack of transparency in existing legal documents.

Some inspections were also causing burdens and delays for enterprises.

Tuan said the existing overlaps, inconsistencies and lack of transparency required stronger reforms to be carried out with a drastic spirit to create the most favourable business environment for enterprises and position Vietnam among countries with the best business climate in ASEAN.

The management thinking must be renovated in the trend of rapid and intensive international integration to raise transparency and develop practical regulations which serve enterprises in an effective way, Tuan said.