The strongest administrative reform in the past 20 years

Speaking at the working session on the morning of October 16 of the Prime Minister's Working Group with 4 Ministries on cutting and simplifying business procedures and conditions, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Research, said that in the past 20 years, along with the administrative procedure reform in 2000 - 2003, the current reform starting in 2016 is also very drastic with major changes.

“The business community is very hopeful about the Government’s reform efforts, but there is also some concern and doubt about whether it will really be done and whether it can be done. It must be done substantively as Minister and Head of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung said,” said Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung.

Previously, Minister, Head of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung, Head of the Working Group, requested that at the working session, ministries must publicly report on the progress of the implementation of tasks, "when it can be done, whether it can be cut or not, why it is not reduced, where it is stuck". The spirit is to sit together to find the best solution to remove obstacles, in accordance with the spirit of saying what you do, strongly shifting to serving the people and businesses.

“We have done a lot, but today we invite many associations, businesses, and experts to prove whether the cuts are real or not, or if we combine two into one, or cut one to grow the other. Of course, if this situation exists, it is very rare, but the spirit is to be very transparent,” said the Minister.

Government resolutions have required cutting and simplifying 50% of business conditions and 50% of import and export procedures and goods subject to specialized inspection. However, out of a total of 6,191 business conditions, only 1,517 have been cut so far. Out of 9,926 new product lines, 1,700 have been cut.

According to Director Nguyen Dinh Cung, in this reform, there are many conditions that have been cut, which simply do not have much impact on businesses, and businesses do not benefit, because they still depend on implementation at lower levels. However, many of the reductions must be highly appreciated. For example, the conditions for gas trading and rice export that have been cut by the Ministry of Industry and Trade are very substantial, strongly affecting businesses.

“We are very determined, the Ministries have really paid attention to reform but the results have not been as targeted, the impact has not been as expected. Reform is continuous and regular and does not stop here, next year, next year must continue. As for us, after October 30, when the decrees to reduce conditions and procedures have been issued, we will carefully evaluate and announce them so that the public knows and the Government has a basis to continue reform. The Prime Minister's working group also needs to have a full assessment of the level of reform this time,” the expert suggested.

Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Quang Tuan, Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute, said: “For a long time, I have heard that the Government is hot while the ministries are cold, but through the reports, I see that many ministries have moved and the results are also very positive. However, in addition to the quantity not meeting the requirements, I am also more concerned about the quality, the reports have not gone into depth about the quality of reform.”

Director Bui Quang Tuan suggested that the long-term solution for the business environment is to build an e-Government as directed by the Prime Minister, thereby best serving the people and businesses, although this task is not easy.

The representative of the Association of Software and Information Technology Enterprises also recommended that the Ministries continue to cut down on procedures and specialized inspection items, such as phone batteries. “For example, in the case of Samsung recalling the Galaxy Note 7, it was also because the enterprises discovered it themselves, we did not check it,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, reports from ministries show that most have achieved or exceeded the target of cutting 50% of business conditions. However, the content and effectiveness of the reduction of business conditions are issues that need further discussion.

“There are still inappropriate, unnecessary, and ineffective business conditions. In addition, regulations on training and certification by state management agencies are still quite common. Business conditions are hidden under the regulation “implementation according to the regulations of the Ministry of Management” and have not been removed. In particular, some changes are more formal than the goal of reform and business”, said Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Van Hieu. In particular, there is still a situation where draft decrees amending each decree separately add new business conditions.