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COVER STORY

DETERMINATION REMAINS

Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Duy Dong tells VET about the
progress of Vietnam’s reform process over troublesome recent times.

% After two years of fighting Covid-19, rent context, under the impact of Covid-
many people believe that reforms to Viet- 19, reform efforts must be stronger and
nam’s business and investment environ- more substantive to help businesses and
ment have slowed. What are your thoughts? individuals recover.
The reform of the business and invest- The Ministry of Planning and Invest-
ment environment has indeed shown signs ment is urging ministries, agencies, and
of slowing since 2020. In global rankings, localities to adopt specific plans and
some of our reform indices are not sustainable actions to ensure this requirement is met.
and are low, not only in terms of quality but In particular, the implementation plan
also in terms of rankings. These have not for Resolution No. 02 must be associated
improved and even been downgraded. with the implementation plan for gov-
In particular, many indices fell or were mination of the government and Prime ernment Resolution No. 11/2022/NQ-CP
downgraded in 2021 compared to 2020. The Minister Pham Minh Chinh to improve on the Program of Socio-economic Recov-
innovation index fell two places, from 42nd the business environment and enhance ery and Development and at the same
to 44th, while the sustainable development national competitiveness, identifying these time implement Resolution No.
index fell in both points and ranking, from as key in institutional reform and as impor- 43/2022/QH15 from the National Assem-
73.8 to 72.8 points and from 49th to 51st, the tant and regular tasks. bly on fiscal and monetary policies to
property rights index from 73.8 to 72.8 points Objectives, tasks, and solutions are support the Program.
and from 78th to 84th, and the perceived designed for both the whole government Therefore, the Conference on the
corruption index from 96th to 104th. tenure, to 2025, as well as in 2022. The Implementation of Resolution No.
The government issued Resolution No. focus of reform revolves around nine groups 02/2022/NQ-CP held recently by the
02/2022/NQ-CP at the beginning of the of problems and eight specific indicators, ministry was the first step in gaining
year, to send a message about continuing such as cutting conditional business and feedback from associations, businesses,
to promote reform and improve the busi- investment lines, removing barriers to analysts, and scientists on reform trends
ness and investment environment, creating business and investment activities, reform- post-pandemic. The ministry, as the lead
trust in the government’s companionship ing specialized inspections, and reducing agency advising on and supervising the
with businesses, especially in the context the number of procedures and the associ- process, will report to the Prime Minister
of Covid-19 having a serious impact on ated time and cost, and so on. to effectively implement measures to
the economy over the past two years. These indicators were selected from reform the business and investment envi-
those used by prestigious international ronment together with ministries, agen-
% At recent conferences, you have men- organizations such as the World Economic cies, and localities, to help businesses in
tioned the trend towards slowing and Forum (WEF), the UN, the World Intel- the most substantive way.
said that efforts to reform and improve lectual Property Organization (WIPO),
the business environment are effective and the International Telecommunications Resolution No. 02 has now been in place
non-financial solutions to help businesses Union (ITU), and are in line with reform for two months. How would you assess
recover and develop after a difficult trends in Vietnam. the implementation and action plans of
period from the pandemic. What issues We believe in improving the business ministries, agencies, and localities?
will the implementation of Resolution environment and enhancing competitive- Overall, ministries, agencies, and local-
No. 02 therefore focus on? ness. This requires that we continue to ities have clearly shown their determination
It must be emphasized that the issuance approach international practice and com- in implementing reform solutions, improv-
of Resolution No. 02 expresses the deter- pete internationally. Moreover, in the cur- ing the business and investment environ-
ment and enhancing competitiveness. As
soon as the Resolution was issued, 24 of
KEY POINTS OF REFORM EFFORTS IN THE 2022-2025 PERIOD, UNDER RESOLUTION
NO. 02/2022/NQ-CP 26 ministries, departments, and agencies
and 49 of 63 cities and provinces issued
1 Improve factors within the business environment towards reducing the number of action plans and programs, in which many
procedures, time, cost, and risk for businesses. integrated them with the implementation
2 Cut the list of conditional business and investment lines and reform business conditions. of Resolution No. 01.
3 Remove barriers to business and investment activities caused by overlapping, However, in order for these programs
conflicting, unreasonable, and differing legal documents.
4 Continue to accelerate the reform of management and specialized inspections on import- to come into reality and effectively support
export goods. businesses and individuals, in addition to
5 Accelerate reform in land registration and the administrative management of land. developing action plans, ministries, agen-
6 Boost digital transformation in line with administrative reform. cies, and localities also need to be specific
7 Improve decentralization and the empowerment of localities in inspections and with solutions and tasks.
monitoring. The Prime Minister has directed the Min-
8 Focus on solutions to support businesses and individuals to recover production and
business activities, easing the negative effects of Covid-19. istry of Planning and Investment to hold a
9 Create institutions to support innovation and creativity. conference on implementing Resolution No.
02, to ensure ministries, agencies, and localities
take specific and consistent actions. %

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