Hanoi (VNA) – The implementationof the Government’s Resolution 02/NQ-CP issued early this year has broughtabout improvements in the business environment, heard a working session on the impactsof the document held on June 12 under the chair of Deputy Prime Minister Vu DucDam.

Deputy Minister of Planning andInvestment Vo Thanh Thong said the ministry and the Government Office hadcoordinated with World Bank experts to update the indexes on Vietnam’s businessenvironment for the bank’s Doing Business report, slated to be announced inOctober this year.

Accordingly, the procedures andtime for starting a business reduced from 8 and 17 days to 5 and 8 days,respectively; the procedures and time for getting a construction permitdecreased from 10 and 166 days to 10 and 62 days. The payments of tax per yeardropped to only one time a year from the previous 5 times, and the time takento file value added tax was cut from 219 hours to 129 hours a year.

The WB also noted thatrecently-issued documents had helped speed up the settlement of contractdisputes and insolvency.

However, the deputy minister said that some ministries have not fulfilled the requirements set by the resolution.Few ministries have issued full guidance documents on implementing tasks underthe resolution in the first quarter as required, resulting in confusions and difficultiesin building and carrying out action plans.

Many ministries have drafteddecrees on adjusting business conditions but are slow to submit them to theGovernment for approval. Most ministries have not issued documents guidingsubsidiaries, enterprises and localities regarding the reform in businessconditions.

Deputy Minister of PublicSecurity Nguyen Van Son said enterprises and people still complain when doingadministrative procedures, particularly the attitude of civil servants who donot give full explanations on procedures, forcing enterprises and people toreturn many times.

Concluding the working session,Deputy PM Dam urged ministries and agencies to tighten public discipline andorder in implementing Resolution 02 in order to create substantial changes.

Ministries and agencies shouldhold inspections to check the pace of reform, and dialogues with businessassociations to learn about existing problems, he said.

The Deputy PM requested that ministriesand sectors submit reports on the pace of cutting business conditions withinnext week and propose solutions to problems raised by the business community.

He suggested the Ministry ofPlanning and Investment consider the ranking of ministries, sectors andlocalities in implementing Resolution 02.-VNA