Business condition reforms need higher effectiveness: workshop

 The elimination of business conditions has helped ease burden on enterprises, but much work needs to be done to boost the effectiveness, heard a workshop in Hanoi on February 27.

At the event, held as part of the Australian programme on supporting Vietnam’s economic reforms (Aus4Reform), Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) Tran Thi Hong Minh said in the recent past, reforming regulations on business conditions to create a favourable environment for enterprises has been one of the Government’s priorities.

Between 2017 and 2019, ministries and sectors proposed the removal and simplification of about 50 percent of all business conditions, thus helping firms to reduce time, costs and risks.

However, she said, there still exist unnecessary or unreasonable business conditions that are useless for the State’s management. Therefore, improving the quality of business conditions remains a focus of business climate reforms in Vietnam, Minh stressed.

Nguyen Minh Thao, head of CIEM’s board on business environment and competitiveness research, noted in the 2017-2019 period, the Government issued nearly 40 documents to direct the reform of business conditions, adding that it is hard to find any reform area that the Government has paid such great attention to like the reform of business conditions.

Most of business conditions have been simplified and few of them have been removed, she said, adding that although the work has resulted in certain outcomes, obstacles related to business conditions remain popular.

Particularly, companies’ feeling of reform effectiveness is still limited, Thao stressed.

Dau Anh Tuan, head of the Legal Department at the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), pointed out that management agencies are still using administrative measures to intervene in the market. There is even a fact that they want to increase, not decrease, conditional business sectors.

He suggested ministries and sectors review reform effectiveness in each field, continue reviews to abolish and simplify business conditions, strictly deal with actions that intentionally cause difficulties for enterprises, and set up dialogue and feedback mechanisms for the business circle.

Meanwhile, Thao said they should make breakthroughs in this regard by changing management methods. 

Accordingly, companies should be allowed to actively operate and be responsible for their satisfaction of business conditions. State agencies will carry out examination after that, basing on firms’ adherence to laws, she added./.