(HBO) – The People’s Committee of Hoa Binh province on August 16 held a conference to seek measures to enhance the provincial competitiveness index (PCI) in 2023. The event was chaired by Deputy Secretary of the Hoa Binh Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Bui Van Khanh.
The conference also saw the attendance of Vu Tien Loc, member of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee and President of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC); Hoang Quang Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI); representatives of the business associations of Quang Ninh, Tuyen Quang and Phu Tho provinces, as well as leaders of local departments, sectors and localities.
Deputy Secretary of the Hoa Binh Party Committee and Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Bui Van Khanh addresses the event.
Opening the conference, Chairman of the Hoa Binh People’s Committee Bui Van Khanh said that over the years, Hoa Binh has applied various measures to improve its PCI indicators, focusing on administrative reform and removing difficulties for businesses.
He noted that in 2022, Hoa Binh ranked 23rd among localities nationwide in terms of Public Administration Reform (PAR) Index and 43rd in the Provincial Governance and Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI). It also leaped nine places in the PCI.
As of July, Hoa Binh had seen considerable improvements in the business support service – one of the component indices of the PCI, which reached 81.38 points, ranking second among localities in the country.
Meanwhile, the province provided 72.5% of total public services on the National Public Service Portal, exceeding the target of 15% given by the Prime Minister, while 74.35% of total public services had been conducted online. In the first six months of 2023, the province attracted 21 investment projects worth about 9.33 trillion VND (389.72 million USD).
However, Khanh noted that the improvements in the investment and business environment remained modest, while businesses have still faced difficulties in land access. A number of planning projects remained overlapping, while the province has suffered a lack of high-quality human resources, he said, adding that ground clearance activities have still faced many difficulties.
Participants hailed the positive solutions that Hoa Binh has applied to remove difficulties for businesses, while giving ideas to continue to improve the local investment and business environment, including building a resolution of digital economy and digital transformation, developing alternative materials, and holding dialogues with businesses to remove difficulties facing them.
Speaking at the conference, Hoang Quang Phong, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and President of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center (VIAC) Vu Tien Loc hailed efforts of Hoa Binh in improving its investment and business environment.
They stressed the need to promote the role of businesses in giving advice to the locality on solutions and policies to support them and remove obstacles in production and business activities, thus boosting local socio-economic development. They advised the province to continue to speed up administrative reform, promptly approve its planning, and enhance its enforcement capacity to improve the PCI and PAPI performance.
Concluding the event, Khanh highly valued ideas given by participants, affirming that Hoa Binh will summarise the opinions and continue to apply measures to improve its investment and business environment, thus enhancing its competitiveness.
