Hanoi (VNA) – The northeastern province of Quang Ninh, for the firsttime ever, became the most competitive locality in the country, toppingVietnam’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2017.

In the PCI 2017 report jointly launched on March 22 in Hanoi by the VietnamChamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID), the city gained the top score of 70.7 on a 100 pointscale.

The report has been produced annually since 2005 to assess the ease of doingbusiness, economic governance, and administrative reform efforts by theprovinces and cities in Vietnam in order to promote the development of theprivate sector.

The 2017 PCI Report is the 13th iteration and is based on responses from 12,000enterprises, including more than 10,200 domestic private enterprises from 63cities and provinces and nearly 1,800 foreign invested enterprises in 21provinces in the country.

According to the report, Quang Ninh was followed closely by Da Nang (70.1points) and Dong Thap (68.8 points). 

Other provinces and cities that found themselves in the good PCI tier are LaoCai, VinhPhuc, Hanoi, Binh Duong, Thai Nguyen, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, and BacNinh.

Positive improvements have been the dominant trend in Vietnam’s businessenvironment for the past year, said VCCI Chairman Vu TienLoc during the launchof the report.

“Provinces and cities have actively implemented the directives of the PrimeMinister, learning to employ good practices and experience from top performersin order to improve their local business environment,” Loc said.

“The PCI report has been very influential in promoting transparency and goodeconomic governance in Vietnam. We look forward to continued strong economicgrowth and prosperity in the years ahead,” said US Ambassador to Vietnam DanielKristenbrink.

According to Dau Anh Tuan, Director of the VCCI’s Legal Department, the 2017 PCIreport witnessed impressive reform efforts by local government across thecountry.

Many governance areas have been improved in 2017 to remove obstacles forbusinesses. Informal charges have been on the decline, the business environmenthas been more equal, and the administrative procedures have been simplified, hesaid.

The 2017 PCI survey revealed optimism among the private and foreign businesscommunities helped raise their economic prospects.

Fifty-two percent of PCI 2017 respondents in the domestic survey said theyplanned to increase the size of their operations over the next two years, thehighest level since 2011, while the number of firms planning on scaling down orclosing their business was extremely low at 8 percent.-VNA