Difficulties in converting the industrial promotion center model towards autonomy

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Thang - Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade said that the industry and trade sector across the country is making efforts to implement the policy of innovating the operations of public service units, including industrial promotion centers.

According to statistics, nationwide, 60/63 provinces and cities have established public service units, directly under the Department of Industry and Trade to perform functions and tasks of industrial promotion activities (centers); 3/63 units perform functions of investment promotion, industrial promotion and trade promotion, tourism , and business support under the Provincial People's Committee. However, in each locality, the center performs different tasks, such as: industrial promotion, trade promotion, energy saving, industrial development consulting...

Particularly for the Northern region, as of June 2024, 11/28 centers will carry out tasks of industrial promotion, energy saving, industrial development consulting, supporting industry, sustainable production and consumption; 15/28 centers will carry out additional tasks of trade promotion, industry and trade promotion; 2/28 units will merge into the provincial investment-tourism promotion center.

Financial autonomy helps the Hanoi Center for Industrial Promotion and Development Consulting be more proactive in implementing projects. Photo: Can Dung

On Hanoi's side, Mr. Thang also informed that, implementing Decree No. 60/2021/ND-CP of the Government regulating the financial autonomy mechanism of public service units and Circular 56/2022/TT-BTC guiding a number of contents on the financial autonomy mechanism of public service units according to Decree 60/2021/ND-CP, the city has transferred financial autonomy to the Hanoi Center for Industrial Promotion and Industrial Development Consulting (Industrial Promotion Center) for the period 2023-2024.

The Department of Industry and Trade also assigned the Industrial Promotion Center to develop an annual plan and key task program, strive to increase financial autonomy according to the set plan, innovate the system and improve the quality of public service management activities; proactively arrange and consolidate the streamlined organizational structure, reduce staff; promote the application of digital transformation, apply international standards, regulations and governance norms to improve the quality of public service services, and increase revenue from this career.

Training human resources, improving the quality of civil servants and workers to suit practical needs and new tasks...

“ In reality, the implementation shows that assigning financial autonomy to public service units has helped reduce the burden on the State budget, but there are still many difficulties that need synchronous solutions to overcome, ” said Mr. Thang.

Specifically, the central apparatus of provinces and cities is not unified. The rearrangement of the organizational apparatus of some localities in the direction of merging the public service units performing the industrial promotion tasks of the Department of Industry and Trade into public service units under the Provincial People's Committee has caused confusion in the psychology of cadres and civil servants. At the same time, it "breaks" the unity in the organization of the industrial promotion system as stipulated in Decree No. 45/2012/ND-CP of the Government on industrial promotion, affecting the planning and implementation of industrial promotion projects.

Legal documents on public service units are slow to be issued and not promptly amended or supplemented. At the same time, the implementation of the list of public service services in the field of Industry and Trade, technical and economic norms, and unit prices of public service services using the state budget are still slow.

In addition, the awareness, level, thinking, management capacity and quality of the staff working in industrial promotion are generally weak, slow to innovate, and still rely on state subsidies. The authority and responsibility of the head have not been clearly defined, and specific criteria have not been established to evaluate the level of task completion associated with the quality of operations of the centers. Some functions, tasks and powers still overlap and intersect in some sectors and fields.

To remove the above "bottlenecks", the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade proposed that the National Assembly and the Government: For financially autonomous units, salaries are paid according to performance. Units that self-guarantee a portion of regular expenses shall pay salaries according to salary scales, positions and allowances according to current regulations. For the increased revenue and expenditure savings, additional funds shall be set aside for development of career activities. Amend and supplement regulations on the level of expenditure according to the level of financial autonomy of the unit.

Decree No. 60/2021 of the Government stipulates the classification of financial autonomy of public service units on the basis of clearly separating the activities of performing political tasks assigned by the State and the service business activities of public service units.

For the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other ministries and branches, the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Industry and Trade propose: Review and promptly submit to competent authorities to issue a plan for the network of public service units for drastic implementation, arrange dissolution, merger, and staff reduction, and promptly issue a list of public service services using the state budget; issue technical norms as a basis for determining prices of public service services, as a basis for implementation and moving towards autonomy according to the policies of the Party and the State; strengthen support and enhance the capacity of the organization, public service units as the national industrial promotion centers.

Source: https://congthuong.vn/kho-khan-trong-chuyen-doi-mo-hinh-trung-tam-khuyen-cong-theo-huong-tu-chu-326187.html