On the morning of April 15, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) held a ceremony to announce the Annual Report of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2020 in Hanoi. Attending the ceremony were Tran Van Nam, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Head of provincial National Assembly deputy delegation; Nguyen Hoang Thao, Vice-Secretary of provincial Party Committee, Chairman of provincial People's Committee.
Investment climate highly appreciated
The PCI 2020 report was set up on the feedback from 12,300 businesses. Among them, there were over 10,700 private enterprises operating in 63 provinces, cities and nearly 1,600 foreign-invested enterprises operating in 22 localities in Vietnam. As a result, Quang Ninh province continued maintaining the first place. Dong Thap and Long An were ranked second and third, respectively. Binh Duong surpassed 9 ranks, from the 13th (in 2019) to the 4th, and entered the top 10 localities with the highest quality of economic management in the PCI ranking of 2020.
Infrastructure facilities of Binh Duong-based industrial parks are invested synchronously with connectivity, creating favorable conditions for investors to develop their production-business activities
Dr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the VCCI said that the PCI is an indicator of action, promoting the real actions of authorities of the provinces and cities to improve the quality of management and create a favorable climate climate. It is the building and implementation of policies based on evidence from the results provided by the PCI, the exploration and development of reform ideas, good models at grassroots level. In fact, the PCI encouraged and spread many good practices in Vietnam over the past time.
Talking to Binh Duong Newspaper’s reporter, Dr. Loc said that the PCI 2020 of Binh Duong showed the local strong efforts in reforming administrative procedures, creating a more attractive investment climate for businesses. “…Binh Duong province has truly created an innovation zone. The province has not only focused on investment and construction of infrastructure, but also built an ecosystem to create a supply chain of services at businesses’needs. I believe that Binh Duong will further promote the local advantages to continue improving the PCI in the coming time”, said Dr. Vu.
Strengthening administrative reform
In 2020, the negative impacts from the Covid-19 pandemic affected all aspects of socio-economic life. However, with many efforts in overcoming difficulties, Binh Duong still achieved encouraging achievements. Specifically, the province's gross regional domestic product (GRDP) increased by 6.19% compared to 2019. The province’s index of industrial production (IIP) surged 8.02%. The province’s total retail sales revenue of goods and services grew by 12.3%. The province’s export turnover increased by 8.5%. The province’s total investment capital for social development was more than VND133.56 trillion, up 11.6%. The province also absorbed nearly US$1.85 billion in FDI capital and VND70 trillion in domestic capital. So far, the province has attracted 3,960 FDI projects capitalized at US$ 35.8 billion, ranking third nationwide in FDI attraction, only behind Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The province’s export turnover was US$ 27.4 billion. The province’s trade surplus amounted to US$ 6 billion. The province also reached VND 61.4 trillion in total State budget revenue, created new jobs for 45,300 laborers, obtained the average income per capita of VND151 million per year.
The above-mentioned achievements were the efforts by the province in synchronously implementing many solutions with focus on administrative reform, creating a more favorable investment climate for businesses. In 2020 alone, departments, sectors in the province received nearly 168,000 dossiers on administrative procedures, up 39,440 dossiers. Among them there were nearly 160,000 dossiers processed on time or 96.85% of total. In addition, the province well implemented public administrative procedures at levels 3 and 4. During the year, the proportion of dossiers arising online accounted for 43.63%. The rate of records received at addresses via post was 7.63% and there were 24.45% of records with results returned at addresses.
In 2020, more than 50% of dossiers that people and businesses do not need to directly come to provincial Public Administration Center were still processed. Of these, online business registration documents reached 99.4%, an increase of 33.4% compared to 2019. The province also actively rechecked and cut unnecessary administrative procedures with 86 procedures, including 71 at provincial level; 13 at district level and 2 at commune level.
Along with administrative reform, the province always considers infrastructure as a prerequisite for the local socio-economic development, in which transport infrastructure is the top priority to attract and support investors to stick with the locality for a long time. The province has bent on building internal traffic routes and connecting with external ones in order to link with localities in the southern key economic region. Especially, the province has paid attention to developing arterial roads connecting raw material producing areas with the system of seaports for goods circulation. Binh Duong is also the first locality to invest in belt roads across the province and coordinate with localities in the region to build roads and bridges between the two provinces to facilitate trade activities.
In the coming time, Binh Duong will continue realizing its support policies for businesses, creating the local favorable investment climate, promoting production and business, and attracting investment projects selectively. Particularly, the province further gives priority to hi-tech projects that are environmentally friendly with great added value, efficient use of land and workforce.
In the first 3 months of 2021, the province attracted more than VND30.794 billion in business registration capital, up 50.1% over the same period last year. The province has so far lured 50,401 enterprises with a total registered capital of VND473.6trillion. Also during the period, the province's FDI attraction also reached US$ 467 million, up 59% over the same period last year, or 26% of the year’s plan. The province has to date absorbed 3,960 FDI projects with a total registered capital of US$ 35.8 billion.
Reported by Minh Duy-Translated by K.T
