Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam aims to rank among four leading countries inthe Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in terms of business environmentand national competitiveness.

Chairing the Government’s recent regular meeting to discuss the building of adraft resolution on improving the business environment and nationalcompetitiveness, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stressed that the draft Resolution,which is expected to numbered No. 02, places priority on four key areas:simplifying procedures for doing business; continuing reforms in management,specialised inspections and connecting the national single window; boosting e-paymentsand providing online level-4 public services; and developing innovation ecosystemand encouraging startups.

According to economists, the Government has made drastic efforts in renewinginstitutions and ameliorating the business and investment climate, helping thecountry move 21 steps in the business index tracked by the World Bank from 2015.Performances of some criteria such as logistic services, innovation,e-Government and access to e-public services saw strong improvements.

However, economist Pham Chi Lan said that although there is a significantgrowth in the number of newly-established enterprises (120,000 firms), the year2018 witnessed a record high of businesses halting operations. It was estimatedthat if ten firms started their business, seven others shut down.

This means the companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, wereunder intense pressure, she added.

Bottlenecks in business conditions and mechanisms as well as irrational taxlines have hindered businesses’ growth, according to Director of the CentralInstitute of Economic and Management (CIEM) Nguyen Dinh Cung.

“We have reformedstrongly in recent years. However, the world is moving faster and there is acompetition race among countries across the five continents towards improvingthe business climate and national competitiveness”, Cung said.

Economists and the business community believed that if reforms in 2018 stilllagged behind expectations, the Government needs to double or triple itsefforts in the future.-VNA