However, according to some experts, there still seems to be a situation of "hot above, cold below" when the "fire" of reform in the Central Government is always burning, but in some ministries, branches and localities there is still "indifference".
In fact, although there are cuts, the reform process is still considered slow and formalistic; the situation of "inserting" business conditions in circulars issued by ministries still does not really create favorable conditions for businesses.
Untie the "knots"
Although the business environment in our country is assessed to be continuously improving with the increasing attitude and responsibility of ministries, branches and localities, according to the reflection of many businesses, there are still "bottlenecks" that are creating bottlenecks in the process of improving the business environment.
Accordingly, the situation of trouble and harassment is still common in some areas of administrative procedures, causing long processing times; accessing preferential loan resources, finding customers and markets is not favorable.
According to the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) Report 2023, 57.1% of enterprises said that the biggest difficulty they are facing is access to credit, the highest number ever; 14.5% of enterprises reflected that changes in policies and laws are also hindering business development, disrupting project implementation plans,...
This shows that although the Government has been very determined in directing and making efforts in management to improve the quality of the investment and business environment, somewhere in the locality, at the department, branch, district and town levels, there are still many limitations in resolving problems for businesses and people. There are even phenomena of avoiding responsibility, pushing things away or doing things with a low sense of responsibility.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hop Luc Joint Stock Corporation Nguyen Van De shared that the process of collecting opinions in many localities with submissions, plans, projects, etc. was not really appropriate. There were submissions on land price plans, but mechanically asked for opinions from departments and branches in management fields not related to land prices such as: Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs, Education and Training, Information and Communications, Military . These agencies often do not have specialized departments to advise on related content, so asking for opinions is unnecessary, leading to the situation where most of the response documents are just agreeing to finish the job.
Therefore, it is necessary to amend the working regulations at the localities and further promote decentralization and delegation of power. For specialized and specialized issues, it is only necessary to ask for opinions from the departments and branches whose management areas are directly related to the content requiring opinions; avoid formalities, waste of time, prolong procedures, thereby easily causing the risk of taking advantage of collective responsibility to avoid the responsibility of the leader, not being decisive, not daring to think, not daring to act in direction and management.
The above reflection is very close to the PCI survey in 2023 when the index of "pioneering dynamism of the local government apparatus" showed signs of decline compared to previous years, down from 6.84 points (in 2022) to 6.77 points (in 2023).
Only 82.1% of enterprises said that "the Provincial People's Committee is flexible within the legal framework to create a favorable business environment for private enterprises", down 3.9% compared to 2022; 57.6% of enterprises said that "local authorities have a positive attitude towards the private sector", down 6% compared to 2022.
In addition, up to 20% of surveyed enterprises said that "delaying implementation, asking for instructions, doing nothing" was the local response when there were unclear points in the policies and documents of the Central Government. Notably, 51.5% of enterprises agreed with the statement that "departments and branches did not properly implement the policies and guidelines of provincial and municipal leaders", an increase of 1.1% compared to 2022.
In addition to difficulties with administrative procedures, according to many associations and businesses, there is still a situation of overlapping inspection and examination content with quite frequent frequency.
General Secretary of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) Truong Dinh Hoe said that although the burden of inspection and examination has decreased, many businesses in the seafood industry still report having to receive too many inspection and examination delegations in a year. Sometimes, the same content and field are inspected by many different inspection and examination units, especially in the fields of customs, tax, environment, etc., leading to duplication and overlap in inspection and examination activities, which partly affects production and business activities, reducing the competitiveness of businesses. The 2023 PCI survey also showed that the rate of enterprises reporting duplicate inspection and examination contents increased from 6.7% in 2022 to 8.5% in 2023. Therefore, to thoroughly overcome the above situation, inspection agencies must strengthen coordination, detect overlaps and duplications right from the stage of developing and issuing annual inspection and audit plans, ensuring that a business activity content is only subject to one inspection agency.
Expecting a breakthrough
It can be affirmed that continuing to promote the reduction and simplification of administrative procedures in an effective and practical manner at ministries, branches and localities to serve the people and businesses is a key and urgent task at present. This is considered a fundamental and most important solution to bring "peace of mind" to businesses. However, in reality, the reform process shows signs of slowing down, not as directed by the Government and expected by businesses.
The business community really hopes that the State will quickly complete policies and laws, create a favorable, safe, and equal investment and business environment for entrepreneurs and businesses to develop and contribute; especially have a mechanism to prevent and strictly handle acts of harassment, obstruction, corruption, negativity, and procrastination in administrative handling, as well as in the process of bringing policies closer to reality. After all, a good policy, if not well organized and implemented, does not bring about real results, is not very meaningful.
Emphasizing the role of institutional reform as the key and extremely urgent for the current economy , according to Chairman of the Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Pham Tan Cong, for an economy to be competitive, there must first be a suitable competition law framework. In particular, it is necessary to review business conditions and unreasonable legal regulations that hinder competition or distort economic competition. There is a reality that although businesses always complain about difficulties, at times and in some places, solving difficulties and proposals of businesses is just a promise. Many localities carry out reforms because of pressure, not sincerely; do not take people and businesses as the center and subject, goal, and motivation; do not take the satisfaction of people and businesses to evaluate the effectiveness of implementation.
Therefore, the Chairman of VCCI hopes that Resolution No. 41 of the Politburo on building and promoting the role of Vietnamese entrepreneurs in the new era has set out specific tasks for the Government, ministries, branches and localities in creating a favorable, safe and equal business environment. These will be important tasks to revive the spirit and atmosphere of reform in many ministries, branches and localities. At that time, leaders of ministries, branches and localities within their authority must be more proactive and urgently remove barriers to investment and business activities due to overlaps, contradictions, unreasonableness and differences in legal regulations. In addition, there is a need for greater transparency in the process of drafting circulars and decrees. There should be consultation with the opinions and views of the business community to receive contributions and feedback on policies, promptly identify obstacles and barriers in the business environment, and thereby propose appropriate solutions to create the most favorable conditions for businesses.
Fanning the "fire" of reform is difficult, but "keeping the fire" of that reform is even more difficult without the support, dynamism, and pioneering spirit of authorities at all levels. In addition, the State needs to strengthen management and regulation of the market through market solutions, not through administrative orders or "jerky" and unpredictable changes in institutions and laws.
More than ever, businesses need stability, consistency and trust in the development and implementation of policies and laws. In addition, it is necessary to assign specific responsibilities to cadres, civil servants and public employees in the process of receiving and handling administrative procedures, and resolutely discipline individuals and groups that cause difficulties and hinder business operations.
Only then can we create strategic breakthroughs for the development of the business environment in the coming period with the spirit of equality, mutual development; harmonious benefits, shared risks, thereby gradually bringing the Vietnamese economy to develop rapidly and sustainably in the coming time.
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(*) See Nhan Dan Newspaper issue dated June 20, 2024.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/bai-2-duy-tri-ngon-lua-cai-cach-post815428.html
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