Nghe An and Belgium cooperate to improve investment and business environment

Attending the workshop were: Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Vietnam Ms. Jehanne Roccas; Comrade Nguyen Minh Hong - Deputy Minister of Information and Communications.

On the side of Nghe An province, there were comrade Le Xuan Dai - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee of the RALG project in Nghe An province; leaders of the Provincial People's Council, relevant departments and branches.

Conference scene. Photo: My Nga

In his welcome speech at the conference, comrade Le Xuan Dai outlined the achievements and potentials of Nghe An province. In 2017, Nghe An's economic growth rate reached 8.25%, higher than the national average growth rate of 6.7%.

The province has 1,777 newly established enterprises, an increase of more than 12% with a total newly registered capital of 9,920.8875 billion VND. Nghe An also granted new investment licenses to 165 projects with a total registered capital of up to 14,289.55 billion VND.

Nghe An's provincial competitiveness index has improved significantly in recent years, from 46th place in 2012 to 21st place nationwide in 2017.

"However, there are 4 indexes that have not been improved, or even decreased, such as: market entry, transparency, fair competition and legal institutions" - the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee frankly pointed out when analyzing the component indexes of PCI.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Xuan Dai spoke at the conference. Photo: My Nga.

The Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) reports in recent years show that Nghe An's ranking position is in the average group, even in the low average group in 2013 and 2016.

Most of the indicators have been on a downward trend during the period 2011 - 2015, especially in the last two years. According to the 2017 PAPI report, Nghe An has only one index, the People's Participation Index at the grassroots level, ranked 17th in the country, while there are two indicators in the low average group and one indicator in the lowest group.

“Why does a province with diverse resources and large labor force still have an economic position that is not commensurate with these potentials? Why have investment and business activities in Nghe An not yet had a strong breakthrough to fully exploit the province's potential? What institutional bottlenecks prevent Nghe An from making a breakthrough? That is the question that provincial leaders always ask" - Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Xuan Dai raised.

Comrade Le Xuan Dai affirmed that the workshop "Administrative reform towards improving the business environment and attracting investment in Nghe An province" is a forum to dissect, analyze and discuss to have a more comprehensive view of this issue.

Accordingly, Nghe An province leaders have "ordered" experts to help clarify frankly, without avoiding the questions:

1. Regarding administrative procedure reform and business investment procedures, what bottlenecks is Nghe An facing and how can they be resolved?

2. Resolution 6 of the Central Committee (12th tenure) is requiring strong reform of the administrative apparatus. Do experts and businesses have any specific recommendations for the province to streamline and increase the efficiency of the administrative apparatus to better serve the people and businesses?

3. What needs to be done in building e-government to help improve the efficiency of operations, administration and provision of administrative services for Nghe An province?

Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Jehanne Roccas speaks at the conference. Photo: My Nga

In her opening remarks, Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam Jehanne Roccas reviewed some initial results of the implementation of the project "Supporting accountable and responsive local governance in Nghe An province" (2016). Through this project, Belgium has worked with Nghe An authorities to promote socio-economic development through improving interactions between the government and citizens to improve public service delivery and increase citizen satisfaction.

“We are pleased with the commitments and efforts of Nghe An province in supporting this bilateral cooperation project,” the Belgian Ambassador affirmed, and hoped that in the coming time, Belgium and the locality will continue to cooperate and mobilize all necessary resources for the project to be successful and achieve the set results.

Ms. Jehanne Roccas emphasized that the workshop is an important step in promoting the participation of the business sector in improving the quality of government operations and hopes that at the workshop, delegates will clearly present ways in which people can have a voice in planning administrative reforms and limit shortcomings in government operations and public service provision.

The Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam pledged that in 2018, the RALG project could contribute to strengthening the capacity of local authorities at all levels.

Delegation from the Belgian Embassy in Vietnam attended the workshop. Photo: My Nga

At the conference, delegates and speakers discussed issues such as: quality and capacity of administrative management to serve business and attract investment in Nghe An, current situation and main bottlenecks; transparent management, quality of feedback, communication work towards good local governance; promoting e-government to reform public administrative services; accountability and transparency of the government.

With an open and frank spirit, experts and delegates had a dialogue with businesses to jointly propose solutions and policies to turn Nghe An into a province with the best business and investment environment for businesses, including small and medium enterprises.

Dr. Nguyen Sy Dung - former Deputy Head of the National Assembly Office; MSc. Nguyen Huu Hanh - Director of the Institute for Media Development Policy Research and Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Xuan Dai discussed at the workshop. Photo: My Nga

At the end of the workshop, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Xuan Dai requested leaders of departments, branches, People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to conduct further research and discussion with experts and businesses to come up with reform solutions.

Specifically, it is recommended that the Department of Planning and Investment take the lead with the sectors and districts to advise the Provincial People's Committee on some truly breakthrough solutions to improve the PCI index, especially important indexes such as: informal index, time cost, transparency, dynamism, legal institutions must achieve 7 points or more in the PCI index set.

Standing Vice Chairman Le Xuan Dai emphasized that the core and consistent viewpoint of the province is that the role of the local government apparatus must create maximum convenience for businesses by cutting down and shortening the time for administrative procedures, making information transparent and increasing the rate of using electronic public administrative services.

He also recommended the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Department of Information Technology, and the Vietnam Digital Communications Association to support Nghe An province in building e-government, creating a breakthrough to improve the quality of administration and service provision.