At the opening ceremony (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The annual Vietnam Business Forum 2019 opened in Hanoi on January 10,taking the theme of the roles and support of the business community in rapidand sustainable development.
The VietnamBusiness Forum (VBF) is an on-going policy dialogue between the Government andbusiness community aiming at a favourable business environment and sustainableeconomic development in Vietnam.
The event isorganized by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in coordination with theWorld Bank and the International Financial Corporation.
Three sessions atthe VBF 2019 will deal with how to regulate for sustainability, building insustainability and green growth, and soft and hard infrastructure forinnovation.
Representativesfrom think tanks and foreign business associations in Vietnam will present their views on issues of interests
On behalf of the organizer,Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and co-chairmanof the VBF Consortium, Vu Tien Loc said the Government, along with ministries,sectors and localities, has taken specific actions to improve Vietnam’s performanceand ranking in indexes on business environment, competitiveness capacity andinnovation.
According to Loc,surveys conducted by the VCCI in 2019 showed the business community acknowledgedpositive changes in the country’s business environment, but the improvement wasnot equal across sectors.
Through theimplementation of the Government’s resolutions 19 and 02 in 2019, as well asresolution 35 in 2016, changes for the better have been made in the fields ofenterprise establishment, business registration, electricity access andadministrative procedures related to tax and land.
However, it wassaid that little progress was made regarding the fields of business bankruptcy,investor protection and import-export procedures. The rate of doing businessregistration online, via post or at public administrative centres increased to17.4 percent from the previous 12.5 percent, but the ratio of approval of ITapplication dropped from 60 percent to 36 percent.
Tax inspection isanother field with little improvement, with 33 percent of surveyed firms sayinginspectors tend to make inference in a disadvantaged way to firms, and 30percent mentioning unofficial costs related to tax inspection.
He urgedministries, sectors and localities to continue to make substantial and moreeven reforms towards a favourable business environment in line with the mottoof a facilitating government./.
VNA
