This result affirms the province's efforts to improve the investment and business environment, build a service-oriented government, and support businesses. This further motivates Bac Ninh to enhance its competitiveness, attract investment, and promote sustainable socio -economic development.
Many leading indicators stand out.
After 21 years of implementation, the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) has become an important tool reflecting the quality of economic governance, the level of the investment and business environment, and the capacity of local governments to serve businesses. 2025 marks the biggest shift for the PCI as the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) officially adopts the new PCI 2.0 version.
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Production line at Sungwoo Vina Co., Ltd. |
The new evaluation system comprises 9 component indicators with 98 criteria. These component indicators include: Market entry; access to resources; transparency; administrative compliance costs; informal costs; fair competition; business support policies; legal framework; and proactive governance.
Along with PCI 2.0, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) is publishing the Business Performance Index (BPI) for the first time. While PCI reflects "institutional inputs," BPI measures "market outputs," demonstrating the effectiveness of private sector development and the innovation capacity of localities. According to VCCI's assessment, this is an important basis for localities to persevere with long-term reforms instead of chasing short-term results.
A notable new feature in the 2025 PCI (Provincial Competitiveness Index) is that VCCI will not publish a specific ranking of provinces and cities from 1 to 34 as before, but will instead group them by governance quality according to international practices. In this ranking, Bac Ninh is among the top 5 localities with good governance quality, along with Da Nang, Hai Phong, Phu Tho, and Quang Ninh.
According to the published results, Bac Ninh province stands out with its balanced and uniform governance structure across many areas. The province has at least 5 out of 9 component indicators in the top 10 localities nationwide.
Notably, Bac Ninh ranked first nationwide in two key indicators: "Cost of complying with administrative procedures" with 8.93 points and "Proactive government" with 6.67 points. It also ranked fourth nationwide in the indicators "Market entry" and "Legal institutions".
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The manufacturing plant of Electric Motorcycle Yadea Vietnam Co., Ltd., Quang Chau Industrial Park. |
Leading the "Administrative Procedure Compliance Costs" index demonstrates the province's strong reforms in simplifying document processing procedures and shortening the time required for businesses to complete procedures.
This is an important indicator, directly reflecting the ease with which businesses can carry out administrative procedures with state agencies. Compared to the national median of 7.31 points, Bac Ninh achieved 8.93 points, the highest score nationwide. This shows that the business community has a very positive assessment of the province's progress in administrative reform.
In the "Proactive Government" index, the province continues to lead the country with 6.67 points, significantly higher than the national median of 5.46 points. This index reflects the proactive and flexible governance capacity, as well as the ability of the local government to support and assist businesses. This result shows that businesses highly appreciate the province's open-mindedness, decisiveness, and proactive approach in resolving difficulties for production and business.
In addition to the two leading indicators, the province also achieved positive results in the "Market Entry" index with 8.2 points and the "Legal Institutions" index with 7.88 points, ranking 4th nationwide. These indicators reflect a transparent legal environment, the ease of establishing a business, and the ability to protect the legitimate rights of businesses.
However, despite the outstanding results, some indicators for Bac Ninh are still lower than the national average and need further improvement. Specifically, the "Fair Competition" index reached 5.21 points, lower than the national median; the "Business Support Policies" index reached 5.54 points, only slightly higher than the national median; and the "Access to Resources" index reached 6.09 points, lower than the median of the Red River Delta region. This shows that the business community still hopes the province will continue to improve fairness in accessing business opportunities.
According to VCCI's assessment, Bac Ninh's outstanding feature lies not in a single advantage but in its ability to maintain consistent governance quality across many aspects. This is a crucial foundation for the province to maintain its investment appeal amidst increasing competition among localities.
Continue to maintain and improve the rankings of the indicators.
The 2025 PCI ranking results are a testament to the province's continuous and decisive reform process over the past years. The province has identified improving the investment environment and enhancing competitiveness as key tasks, using the satisfaction of businesses and citizens as a measure of governance effectiveness.
Accordingly, the province is promoting digital transformation, operating the Public Administrative Service Center efficiently, expanding online public services, and increasing the percentage of high-level online applications processed.
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Brick production line at Catlanta Joint Stock Company, Van Mon commune. |
Data exchange and sharing between agencies have been gradually improved, helping businesses reduce travel time and administrative costs. Many procedures related to investment, land, and business registration have had their processing times shortened compared to regulations.
In particular, the time required to issue mining permits for leveling materials has been shortened from 20-25 days compared to before, creating favorable conditions for contractors to accelerate the progress of industrial parks, clusters, and transportation projects, and attracting investment to the area.
| According to VCCI's assessment, Bac Ninh's outstanding feature lies not in a single advantage but in its ability to maintain consistent governance quality across many aspects. This is a crucial foundation for the province to maintain its investment appeal amidst increasing competition among localities. |
In addition, the province regularly holds meetings and dialogues with businesses to promptly address difficulties related to investment, infrastructure, labor, environment, land, etc.
Many effective business support models have been implemented, such as "special task forces" and hotlines for receiving feedback from businesses and citizens. Departments and agencies also maintain effective thematic dialogue programs with businesses.
The Department of Industry and Trade regularly meets with supporting industry enterprises and export businesses to address difficulties related to markets, electricity, logistics, and import/export procedures.
The Provincial Industrial Parks Management Board organized a dialogue with FDI enterprises to address requests related to labor, technical infrastructure, environment, fire safety, and procedures for investment expansion.
The Tax, Customs, and Social Insurance sectors are also strengthening training and policy dialogues to support businesses in accessing new regulations and resolving difficulties when fulfilling their financial obligations.
In particular, the province regularly organizes meetings with businesses, contributing to strengthening direct exchanges between the government and businesses, helping to address many requests quickly at the grassroots level. This is also one of the factors that helps businesses highly appreciate the cooperative spirit and proactive management of the provincial government.
According to the provincial People's Committee leaders, improving the PCI (Provincial Competitiveness Index) is not about "chasing achievements" but about building a transparent, favorable, and substantive investment environment; putting businesses at the center of service, and considering the success of businesses as the driving force for local development.
In the coming period, the province will continue to focus on improving scores in indicators that are still lagging behind, such as "Fair Competition," "Access to Resources," and "Business Support Policies." This will include accelerating land clearance, publicly disclosing planning information, improving access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises; and supporting technological innovation, digital transformation, and the development of supporting industries.
At the same time, the province is strengthening inspections of public service, tightening the accountability of officials in handling dossiers; and strictly dealing with acts that cause inconvenience to businesses. Improving the quality of implementation at the grassroots level is identified as a key factor in maintaining sustainable PCI results in the new phase.
Source: https://baobacninhtv.vn/bac-ninh-giu-nhip-tang-hang-pci-postid445790.bbg
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