Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - 2019 will be a busy year forministries looking to cut business prerequisites, and firms should contributeto making the process more efficient, said Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of theCentral Institute for Economic Management (CIEM).

With regard to the Government’s freshly-issued resolution onimproving the business environment and national competitiveness for 2019, Cungsaid the involved ministries would have a huge workload.

The resolution reflected the Government’s determination tocut red tape for businesses this year with detailed targets and specificdeadlines, Cung said.

The Resolution No 2 asked ministries and ministerial-levelagencies to abolish and simplify unclear and infeasible business prerequisitesbefore the third quarter of this year and reduce the number of import and goodssubject to inspections by half.

It is time for firms to provide input about theirdifficulties with business prerequisites and import and export inspections tomake the deregulation process more efficient, Cung said.

For example, in the transportation sector, managementagencies still struggle to find an effective way to manage new business modelslike that of ride hailing services firm Grab, Cung said. He maintains firmsshould play a role in advocating for policies.

Ministries should also change their management styles in theera of innovation to encourage new business models, Cung said.

He said State management should not prevent or limitcreativity or distort operation models, adding it was impossible to prohibit businessesfor which State agencies had not found effective management solutions.

According to Dau Anh Tuan, head of the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (VCCI)’s Legal Department, the Government’s target ofhaving 1 million firms by 2020 was challenging given the fewer-than-expectednumber of new firms set up.

“More than ever, deregulation of prerequisites andsimplifying administrative procedures must be implemented thoroughly,” Tuansaid.

According to VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc, the focus was stillon the number of new firms set up every year while little attention was paid tohow efficiently they operate.

A survey by VCCI found local authorities were still slowerin tackling problems raised by firms than ministries and ministerial-levelagencies.

Many reforms were introduced but it was still a long roadfor the policies to benefit businesses, Loc said.

He stressed it was critical to hasten reforms in 2019, asthe room for positive changes remained large.-VNS/VNA