Vietnam is aiming to reach the level of ASEAN 4 countries (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines) later this year in terms of business environment; become one of the top 70 and 80 countries in terms of start-ups and protection of minority investors, respectively; and among the top 30 countries listed by the World Bank in transparency and access to credit. 

By 2020, the country also targets being among the top 40 countries ranked by the World Economic Forum in access to loans, achieving the average level of ASEAN 4 countries in competitiveness and that of ASEAN 5 (Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines) in terms of the Global Innovation Index released by the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

On e-government, comprehensive reform will be conducted in telecommunications infrastructure, human capital and online service indexes, so that the country will be rated among the top 80 countries in the UN e-government ranking.

By the end of this year, most public services involving citizens and businesses will be launched at Level 3 and Level 4 which allows online payments and applications. 

The government asked ministers and leaders of ministry-level agencies, government units, centrally-run municipal and provincial People’s Committees to devise action plans before February 28 to execute the resolution. 

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was directed to work with the Ministries of Finance; Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs; and Vietnam Social Insurance to improve indexes on start-ups and investor protection, partly by cutting administrative procedures. 

It must also liaison with the Ministry of Justice and Government Office to build a decree on amendments and supplements to existing legal documents in order to clear business obstacles. 

The Finance Ministry will adopt technological advances to manage imports-exports, and improve the efficiency of inspection at border gates and electronic customs clearance. 

The Government asked the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the Vietnam Lawyers’ Association, the Vietnam Bar Federation and business associations to conduct surveys on the implementation of administrative procedures and make relevant recommendations to the Government. 

The VCCI will also work to improve the quality of the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) rating and collect feedback from the business community to report to the National Council on Sustainable Development and Competitiveness and the Government Office. 

Municipal and provincial authorities were requested to launch one-stop shop models to simplify and shorten time for administrative procedures involving taxes and fees.