Vietnam Business Forum 2019 opens in Hanoi

At the opening ceremony (Photo: VNA)

The Vietnam Business Forum (VBF) is an on-going policy dialogue between the Government and business community aiming at a favourable business environment and sustainable economic development in Vietnam.

The event is organized by the Ministry of Planning and Investment in coordination with the World Bank and the International Financial Corporation.

Three sessions at the VBF 2019 will deal with how to regulate for sustainability, building in sustainability and green growth, and soft and hard infrastructure for innovation.

Representatives from 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-chairman of the VBF Consortium, Vu Tien Loc said the Government, along with ministries, sectors and localities, has taken specific actions to improve Vietnam’s performance and ranking in indexes on business environment, competitiveness capacity and innovation.

According to Loc, surveys conducted by the VCCI in 2019 showed the business community acknowledged positive changes in the country’s business environment, but the improvement was not equal across sectors.

Through the implementation of the Government’s resolutions 19 and 02 in 2019, as well as resolution 35 in 2016, changes for the better have been made in the fields of enterprise establishment, business registration, electricity access and administrative procedures related to tax and land.

However, it was said that little progress was made regarding the fields of business bankruptcy, investor protection and import-export procedures. The rate of doing business registration online, via post or at public administrative centres increased to 17.4 percent from the previous 12.5 percent, but the ratio of approval of IT application dropped from 60 percent to 36 percent.

Tax inspection is another field with little improvement, with 33 percent of surveyed firms saying inspectors tend to make inference in a disadvantaged way to firms, and 30 percent mentioning unofficial costs related to tax inspection.  

He urged ministries, sectors and localities to continue to make substantial and more even reforms towards a favourable business environment in line with the motto of a facilitating government./.

VNA