RESOLUTION

ONGOING IMPLEMENTATION OF MAJOR DUTIES AND MEASURES TO IMPROVE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND ENHANCE NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS BY 2019 AND VISION TO 2021

GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Government Organization dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Resolution No. 69/2018/QH14 dated April 12, 2016 of the National Assembly on social-economic development plan in 05 years from 2016 to 2020; Resolution No. 48/2017/QH14 dated November 08, 2018 of the National Assembly on social-economic development plan in 2019;

At the request of the Minister of Planning and Investment,

HEREBY RESOLVES:

I. CURRENT SITUATION REVIEW

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Thousands of irrational business requirements have been annulled. Specialized inspection carried out for imported goods has been renovated in accordance with the risk assessment principle and has been changed from pre-inspection to post-inspection for different types of goods. The quantity of online services has been rapidly increased, etc.

According to the evaluation and ranking of international organizations, the business environment index in 2018 rose in ranking by 13 places compared to the year 2016 (in which the index of electricity accessibility rose in ranking by 69 places, indices of tax payment and social insurance rose in ranking by 36 places and index of business startup rose in ranking by 17 places). Logistics efficiency index rose in ranking by 25 places and Innovation Index rose in ranking by 14 places, etc.

More than 50% of enterprises have evaluated the business environment as lighted and remarkably convenient. Ministries, sectors and localities which actively implement the Resolution No. 19 also continued to maintain their high ranks or strongly improved the ranks of provincial-level competitiveness index (PCI) (announced by Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry) and Public Administrative Reform Index (announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs):, etc.

The business environment has been improved rapidly and obviously. Such improvement has enhanced the national competitiveness and has gained recognition from international organizations, enterprises and citizens.

However, Vietnam's business environment and competitiveness only achieve a high average rank internationally (business environment index is ranked 69/190 place and national competitiveness is ranked 77/140 place). Vietnam has not joint top 4 leading countries of ASEAN region (business environment index is ranked 5th place and national competitiveness is ranked 7th place). Although some indices have been rapidly improved, the ranks of certain indices have hardly been improved. Especially, some indices even dropped in score compared to other countries within the region or worldwide, such as: Corporate Bankruptcy Handling Index dropped in rank for 8 places compared to 2016 and now holds the last place; Cross-border Commercial Transaction Index dropped in rank for 7 places, etc.

Indices related to technology and innovation which adapt to the new production within the 4.0 industrial revolution have been updated, monitored and improved slowly and resulted in the drop in rank for 01 place in the Business Environment chart of the World Bank (WB) and a drop in rank for 03 places in the Global Competitiveness Chart of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

From 2016, the Resolution No. 19 has assigned the ministries and sectors to act as centers for monitoring each international ranking chart and to take responsibility for each specific index. However, multiple ministries and sectors have not been acting as centers for carrying out such tasks and have not established the leading mechanism within their organization and along vertical. The roles of Ministries (Ministry of Planning and Investment, regarding the Business Environment Report of WB and the Global Competitiveness Report of the WEF; the Ministry of Science and Technology regarding the Global Innovation Index Report of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO); the Ministry of Information and Communications, regarding the E-Government Development Index Report of the United Nations (UN)) in guiding the ministries, sectors and localities to provide data have not been played positively and have not obtained visible results. Some indices have been improved but without a mechanism for collecting and providing accurate information for international organizations, and our nation's rank has been lower than what we deserve (such as the average number of academic years of each adult which is specified in the E-Government Development Index Report, etc.).

The state management methods which have been renovated, especially changing from pre-inspection to post-inspection, and risk management methods of certain sectors and agencies are still slow in process, lack of initiation and are not drastic; such methods only focus on using the indices to solve the problems when there is a high pressure from the enterprise community or as directed by the superior. Indices that affect the business production activities in an indirect manner have not been paid attention so far. Some innovation activities were still impractical and formal. The opportunity costs and informal costs of enterprises that incur during the start of business and during the operation, as well as time and money of citizens while accessing public services have been reduced but a high number still remained. In multiple places, enterprises and citizens still met difficulties due to the regulations which were still very formal of some public authorities, public employees and officials.

During the 4^th industrial revolution and while the international competitiveness is increasing rapidly, all countries try their best to improve the business environment and focus on renovating and enhancing their technological and creative potential, with the aim to adapt to the new production. The objective which focuses on improving the nation's rank internationally and reaching the rank of top 4 leading ASEAN countries still require us to try our best even more. The domestic enterprise community and society are excited about the social-economic development achievements; however, public authorities still need to strongly develop towards transparency, in order to provide the best conditions for the citizens to contribute their efforts and assets in developing the business production and to bring prosperity to themselves and the whole country.

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II. OBJECTIVES AND MAIN TARGETS FOR IMPROVING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND ENHANCING THE NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS BY 2019 AND VISION TO 2021

1. General objectives

Improve the nation's rank in the international ranking charts of WB, WEF, WIPO and UN on business environment and national competitiveness, ect., in order to adapt to the new production of the 4.0 industrial revolution. Strongly improve the business environment and rapidly increase the quantity of newly established enterprises; reduce the rate of enterprises being dissolved and suspended; reduce the input costs, opportunity costs and informal costs for enterprises and citizens; and effectively implement the Resolution of the Government on social-economic development. Strive to make the nation's business environment and competitiveness achieve the rank of top 4 leading countries in ASEAN region.

a. Raise the rank of Business Environment Index (EoDB of WB) by 15 to 20 places; and by 5 to 7 places in 2019.

b. Raise the rank of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI 4.0 of WEF) by 5 to 10 places; and by 3 to 5 places in 2019.

c. Raise the rank of Global Innovation Index (GII of WIPO) by 5 to 7 places; and by 2 to 3 places in 2019.

d. Raise the rank of Logistics Efficiency Index (of WB) by 5 to 10 places.

dd. Raise the rank of Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (of WEF) by 10 to 15 places; and by 7 to 10 places in 2019.

e. Raise the rank of E-Government Development Index (of UN) by 10 to 15 places in 2020.

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a. Improvement of the Business Environment according to EoDB:

- Raise the rank of the Business Startup Index (A1 for short) by 20 to 25 places; and at least 5 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of the Tax Payment and Social Insurance Indices (A2) by 30 to 40 places; and by 7 to 10 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Construction Licensing Index (A3) by 2 to 3 places; and at least by 01 place in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Credit Accessibility Index (A4) by 03 to 05 places; and at least 01 place in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Investor Protection Index (A5) by 14 to 19 places; and at least 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Electricity Accessibility Index (A6) by 05 to 07 places; and by 03 to 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of the Property Registration Index (A7) by 20 to 30 places; and by 05 to 08 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Cross-border Commercial Transaction Index (A8) by 10 to 15 places; and by 03 to 05 places in 2019.

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- Raise the rank of Corporate Bankruptcy Index (A10) by 10 to 15 places; and at least 03 places in 2019.

b. National competitiveness improvement according to CGI 4.0:

- Raise the rank of Law Abiding Cost Index (B1) by 05 to 10 places; and at least 02 places in 2019

- Raise the rank of Bankruptcy Controlling Index (B2) by 05 to 10 places; and by 02 to 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Quality of Land Administration Index by 05 to 08 places; and by 02 to 03 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Infrastructure Index by 03 to 05 places; and at least 01 place in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Information Technology Application Index by 20 to 25 places; and at least 5 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Job Training Quality Index by 20 to 25 places; and at least 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Stock Market Capitalization Index by 10 to 15 places; and at least 05 places in 2019.

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- Raise the rank of Innovative Enterprise Growth Index by 20 to 25 places; and at least 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of the index of companies with creative and breakthrough ideas by 05 to 10 places, and at least 2 places in 2019.

c. Improvement of innovation indices:

Innovation indices according to GII:

- Raise the rank of the IT Infrastructure Index (C1) by 10 to 15 places; and by 05 to 07 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of the Knowledge Intensive Recruitment Index (C2) by 15 to 20 places; and by 05 to 07 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Research Cooperation Index of schools and enterprises (C3) by 10 to 15 places; and by 03 to 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of IT and innovative business model index (C4) by 15 to 20 places; and by 05 to 07 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of IT and innovative organizational model index by 10 to 15 places; and by 03 to 05 places in 2019.

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For the Technology and Innovation Index of which the readiness for the future production is evaluated by WEF:

- Raise the rank of the Technological Solution Index (C7) by 15 to 20 places; and by 05 to 07 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Innovation Capacity Index (C8) by 10 to 15 places; and by 03 to 05 places in 2019.

- Raise the rank of Human Resource Index (C9) by 10 to 15 places; and by 03 to 05 places in 2019.

d. Improvement of the Logistics Efficiency Index: raise the rank of Logistics Service Quality and Capacity Index (D1) by 03 to 05 places; and by 01 to 02 places in 2019.

dd. Tourism Competitiveness Index: raise the rank of Tourism Priority Level Index (DD1) by 15 to 20 places; and by 05 to 07 places in 2019.

III. TASKS AND KEY SOLUTIONS

1. Raise the responsibilities of the ministries assigned as centers for monitoring the improvement of indices and of ministries assigned to manage and take responsibility for the indices and component indices.

a. Assign the ministries to act as centers for monitoring the improvement of indices as follows:

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- The Ministry of Science and Technology shall be the centre for monitoring the Innovation Index of WIPO and the Technology and Innovation Index as specified in the report on future production readiness evaluation of WEF.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall be the centre for monitoring the Logistics Efficiency Index of WB.

- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall be the centre for monitoring the Tourism Competitiveness of WEF.

- The Ministry of Information and Communications shall be the centre for monitoring the E-Government Development Index of UN.

b. The ministries and presiding authorities shall be responsible for the following indices and component indices:

- Ministry of Planning and Investment: A1 and A5.

- Ministry of Finance: A8 and B7 and the Tax Payment Component of A2.

- Ministry of Information and Communications: B5, C1, C4, C5 and C6.

- Ministry of Transport: B4

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- Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment: A7 and B3

- State Bank of Vietnam: A4

- Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs: B6 and C2

- Ministry of Education and Training: C3 and C9

- Government Inspectorate: B2

- Ministry of Science and Technology: B8, B9, B10, C7 and C8.

- Ministry of Industry and Trade: A6 and D1.

- Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism: DD1.

- Ministry of Justice: B1; provide counsels for the Government and directly implement (as authorized) the measures to improve Index A9 and A10.

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c. Departments assigned to be the centers for monitoring the indices (specified in point a, clause 1, section III) and other ministries and agencies which are assigned to take charge and take responsibilities for the indices and component indices (mentioned in point b, clause 1, section III) shall:

- Develop the implementation plan for this Resolution and mention about the tasks, solutions, agencies and presiding units which cooperate to carry out the implementation, and the period for achieving the objectives and carrying out the assigned tasks; such plan must be issue in Quarter I in 2019.

- Develop documented guidelines for ministries, agencies and localities for them to rightly understand and mutually agree about the indices, component indices, objectives and report forms; such guidelines shall be issued in Quarter I of 2019 and be published on the website of the ministries and agencies.

- Accelerate the implementation process and carry out inspection for the task performance and solution implementation at the ministries, sectors, People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities (provincial People's Committees); timely suggest and report to the Government or the Prime Minister for him to solve the problems about the structures, policies, resolutions and tasks in order to improve the assigned indices.

- Take charge to connect with the international organizations; establish an information channel for providing and updating full information in a timely manner, in order to evaluate and rank the indices with objective precision.

- Make a general report about the improvement results of the assigned indices and send it to the Prime Minister every quarter; at the same time send it to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Office of the Government for them to make a general report about the implementation process and results of the Resolution.

d. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall take charge and cooperate with the related ministries and sectors to: (1) Promote the cooperation with international partners and organizations in developing the business environment and national competitiveness; (ii) accelerate WEF to complete the report on the readiness of Vietnam in participating in the 4.0 Industrial Revolution at the beginning of 2020 and in building the Innovation Center.

2. Continue to annul and simplify the regulations on business environment; continue to fully implement the measures for reforming the business environment which were issued in 2018.

a. Ministries and ministerial agencies:

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- Accelerate the process for compiling the Law on amending the related laws and submit a report to the Government for it to forward to the National Assembly for annulment and simplification of the business requirements specified in the specialized laws.

- Fully announce the business requirements which have been annulled and the business requirements which have been simplified in 2018.

b. Chairpersons of the provincial People's Committees shall monitor and direct the departments, sectors and district People's Committees to satisfy the annulled and simplified business requirements; additional requirements that against the law regulations shall not be set; strictly punish the officials who have not fully and rightly carried out the new regulations on such business requirements.

c. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall take charge to:

- Evaluate the changes and actual impacts of the annulled and simplified business requirements that occur to the enterprises. Such business requirements were annulled and simplified by the ministries and sectors in 2018; a report on such requirements shall be sent to the Prime Minister in June 2019.

- Monitor and evaluate the process for comprehensive reforming the regulations on business requirements of ministries, sectors and localities and the results from such process; quarterly, send a report to the Prime Minister to suggest him to immediately handle the delayed, untrue and new problems.

- Take charge to develop and send the Plan on elimination of business sectors and industries subject to prescribed conditions as specified in the Law on Investment of quarter IV in 2019.

3. Continue to comprehensively reform the management, specialized inspection and connection of the National Single-Window Portal.

a. Ministries and ministerial agencies:

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- Review and annul the administrative regulations specified in documented guidelines. This annulment shall be completed in Quarter I of 2019.

- Fully disclose the cut down list of commodities subject to specialized inspection (enclosed with the HS codes) in Quarter I of 2019. Review and cut down 50% of the list of commodities subject to specialized inspection before June 2019 and fully disclose this list.

- In 2019, focus on establishing only one centre to carry out the specialized inspection for one product or commodity.

- Conduct research and develop technical measures for connecting the VNACC/VCIS system and all administrative procedures for management and specialized inspection with the National Single Window and ASEAN Single Window. Accelerate the process for carrying out the tasks specified in the Decision No. 1254/QD-TTg dated September 26, 2018 of the Prime Minister on approving the Action Plan to promote the National Single Window and ASEAN Single Window. Reform the specialized inspection of exported and imported commodities and provide favorable business conditions from 2018 to 2020.

b. The Ministry of Finance shall take charge to monitor and evaluate the results of the reform of management and specialized inspection; evaluate the level of change and actual impact that occur to the logistics enterprises; quarterly, send a report to the Prime Minister for him to take immediate actions to handle the delayed, untrue or new problems.

c. The Chairpersons of provincial People's Committees shall monitor and direct the departments, sectors and district People's Committees to fully implement the regulations on the cut down of commodity list and the reform of administrative procedures for specialized inspection.

4. Promote e–payment and provide online public service at level 4.

a. Ministers and Heads of ministerial agencies shall, within their competence, direct the provision of at least 30% of online public services at level 4; allow the citizens and enterprises to make payment without using cash but other means; promote the method of receiving application documents and returning the results of administrative procedures by using public postal services.

b. Ministry of Information and Communications:

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- In quarter I of 2019, take charge and design the overall architecture of Vietnam E-Government from 2018 to 2025; provide guidance for ministers, ministerial agencies and provincial People's Committees to develop and update the E-Government Architecture (for ministries) and the E-Authority Architecture (for provinces).

c. The State Bank of Vietnam shall carry out the following tasks:

- Before Quarter III of 2019, send a report on the cash refill to the e-wallet via the payment account of the bank; determine the maximum amount of money to be refilled to the e-wallet and the monthly transaction values. Require the commercial banks and intermediate organizations to make payments by using the QR code, with the aim to ensure the compatibility between the payment methods using QR code. Cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to enumerate and disclose the list of compulsory transactions which must be paid through the banks. Suggest the Government to amend the law regulations to encourage real estate transactions to be carried out by using e-payment services instead of cash.

- Submit to the Government the Decree on amending some Articles of the Decree No. 222/2013/ND-CP on payment by cash in quarter IV of 2019.

d. Before quarter III of 2019, the Ministry of Finance shall review and amend the regulations on the financial mechanism which permit administrative organizations, not-for-profit entities and enterprises to pay for the costs of e-payment services.

dd. Ministry of Public Security:

- Accelerate the process for carrying out the assigned tasks specified in the Plan on simplifying administrative procedures, citizen documents and database related to the resident management of 2013 to 2020.

- Take charge to develop the database for handling administrative violations related to traffic safety; mutually agree to identify the charges of administrative violations (ID code); connect and share information on such charges with the State Treasury, commercial banks and enterprises assigned to manage the public postal network and provide public postal services, and related units; apply the e-payment methods in collecting charges of administrative violations.

e. The Vietnam Social Security shall direct the provincial social insurance in mobilizing and encouraging those who receive retirement pensions and social security benefits to receive payments by using e- payment methods. The purpose is to have 50% of those who receive retirement pensions, social security benefits, burial support benefits and death benefits, etc., to use the e-payment services without using cash in the urban areas.

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h. The Office of the Government shall take charge and cooperate with ministries, sectors and agencies to:

- Establish and bring the National Public Service Portal into operation before December 2019; connect with the National Single Window Portal, Public Service Portal and Ministerial and Provincial Single Window Portal and national database and specialized database, in order to serve the provision of online public services.

- Implement and inspect the reform of administrative procedures, as well as applying the single-window system and fully-connected single window system in implementing administrative procedures, etc. Monitor, accelerate and provide counsel about the process of implementing the online public services at level 3 and 4 in ministries, sectors and localities.

i. Vietnam Electricity Corporation shall direct all electricity companies to cooperate with the banks and intermediate service providers in collecting electricity payments by using e-payment method; encourage users to make payments by using e-payment services; double the quantity of people using e-payment services to pay for the electricity bills in 2019.

k. Chairpersons of provincial People's Committees shall direct the process for completing the following tasks:

- Within their competence, issue the plan for providing at least 30% of online public services at level 4; implement this plan before December 2019. Promote the method of receiving application documents and returning the results of administrative procedures by using public postal services.

- Require 100% of schools, hospitals, electricity companies, water supply and drainage companies, environmental sanitation companies, telecom companies and postal service companies within the urban areas to cooperate with the banks and intermediate service providers to collect tuition fees, hospital fees and electricity fees, etc., by using e-payment services, as well as prioritizing the mobile e-payment services or POS. These requirements shall be met before December 2019.

5. Develop the innovation ecosystem, support and encourage innovative startup enterprises.

a. Ministries, ministerial agencies, governmental agencies and People's Committees at all levels shall thoroughly grasp the following principles:

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- Institutional systems must encourage creativity, startup and innovative startup; encourage enterprises to invest in technological renew and participate in research and development (R&D) and artificial intelligence.

- Do not use administrative tools to interfere with the innovation activities of enterprises, research institutes and universities.

b. Ministries, sectors and localities shall encourage the innovation activities within their competence; enable and support innovative startup enterprises to develop the market at their maximum capacity; encourage large enterprises to play the role of supporters for innovative startup enterprises.

c. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall submit the Plan for establishing the National Innovation Center to the Prime Minister in March 2019; as well as the 4th National Industrial Development Strategy in September 2019.

d. The Ministry of Science and Technology shall focus on implementing the measures for acquiring and mastering the core technologies of the 4^th Industrial Revolution, especially artificial intelligence. Promote the restructure process of the national scientific and technological programs towards recognizing enterprises as the main focus of the national innovation system. Develop the National Startup Center and the National Startup Network. Take charge and cooperate with the ministries, sectors, localities and Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to fully and strongly implement the plan for developing Vietnamese Digital Knowledge

dd. Ministry of Education and Training shall take charge to conduct research and suggest the measures for developing the innovation space in universities.

e. Ministry of Finance shall take charge and cooperate with the Ministry of Science and Technology in amending and promulgating the Circular on guiding the expenditures and management of the Development Fund of enterprises, in order to strengthen the motivation for carrying out innovation activities and technological transfer at such enterprises; allow enterprises to make self-decisions to use their research and development fund to carry out innovation activities and invest in innovation startups.

g. Provincial People's Committees shall direct the educational institutions within their area to carry out more innovation and science activities.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

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a. Prioritize and focus on improving the business environment and enhance the national competitiveness, provide directions and take responsibility before the Government and the Prime Minister for the implementation of the Government's Resolutions on tasks and measures for improving the business environment and enhancing the national competitiveness; assign the units to be the centers for guiding, inspecting and making a general report on the improvement of business environment and the enhancement of national competitiveness of the ministries, sectors and localities.

b. Based on the objectives and tasks specified in the Resolution and the guidance from the centre ministries and agencies, take charge and take responsibility for the indices and component indices, develop the implementation plan and issue it in quarter I of 2019; send this plan to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for summarization.

c. Carry out regular inspection and supervision for the implementation process and results of the Programs and the Implementation Plan of the Resolutions on improvement of business environment and enhancement of national competitiveness.

d. Strictly implement the reporting regime. Before the 15th of the last month of the quarter and before December 15, make a general evaluation report on the quarterly and annual implementation process and results. Send this report to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Government Office for them to summarize and submit a report to the Government or the Prime Minister at the meeting of the government in the last month of the quarter or the year.

2. Each ministry, sector and locality shall, within their competence, organize the communication activities to disseminate information about the improvement of the business environment and the enhancement of the national competitiveness. Vietnam News Agency, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam Television and news agencies shall take charge to support the ministries, agencies and localities to disseminate the Resolution in the sectors and levels; strengthen the supervision of the media companies and news agencies for the implementation results of the Resolution.

3. The Ministry of Home Affairs shall integrate some evaluation and ranking criteria for the implementation process of the Resolutions into the annual survey on the Satisfaction Index of Public Administrative Services (SIPAS).

4. The National Council for Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Enhancement shall take charge and take responsibility to help the Prime Minister to monitor and carry out independent evaluation for the implementation process and results of the Resolution. The well-performing and poor performing ministries, sectors and localities shall be clearly specified. Publish the Government's annual survey and evaluation results.

5. Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Vietnam Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, business associations and the banks shall monitor and carry out regular independent evaluation for the implementation process and results of the Resolution. Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry shall investigate and publish the PCI and carry out evaluation for the satisfaction level of the enterprises in the field of tax, customs, social insurance, electricity accessibility, etc.; make a general report about the enterprises’ difficulties and problems which are related the lawsoft; take charge to carry out the support programs which contribute to the sustainable development of such enterprises, the "Vietnamese people use Vietnamese products" program and the program for enhancing the capacity of business associations.

6. The Advisory Council giving counsel about the administrative reform to the Prime Minister shall carry out the survey, evaluate and publish the annual report about the Administrative Procedures Cost Index (APCI)./.

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PP. THE GOVERNMENT
PRIME MINISTER




Nguyen Xuan Phuc