Hanoi would continue to address businesses’ concerns over administrative procedures, especially on large-scale projects financed by both public and private funds.

Production at Yamaha Motor Vietnam in Bac Thang Long Industrial Park, Hanoi. Photo: Kinhtedothi

“This was among a number of measures that Hanoi’s authorities are expected to press on and help the business community overcome current difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Director of the Hanoi Small and Medium Enterprise Support Center Le Van Quan told Hanoitimes.

“The city’s agencies would be active in asking for suggestions from the business community to deal with in a timely manner, instead of staying idle and waiting for them to voice their issues,” he added.

During the 2021-2025 period, Hanoi is set to allocate VND957 billion (US$41.45 million) to finance supporting programs for SMEs. The program consists of three main tasks for local authorities, including providing overall support for SMEs; supporting business households to formalize into enterprises as well as SMEs to further integrate into value chains, and drafting preferential treatment policies for enterprises.

“We are committed to ensuring the success of the program,” he noted.

Along with these programs, Hanoi considers administrative reform a necessary step to improve the business environment and enhance enterprises’ competitiveness.

“There would be new policies to help newly established enterprises enter the market, along with the integration of more public services into the city’s online portal,” said Quan, expecting these measures to save cost and time for enterprises in realizing administrative process in general, and business registration in particular.

“We expect higher service quality in processing administrative procedures in a range of fields, including construction, land management, natural resources, or healthcare,” he added.

Quan, however, referred to the modest rate of using public online services to emphasize the necessity to raise awareness among enterprises in this regard, as they and the people are the main beneficiaries and should take advantage of the administrative reform process.

During the current pandemic situation, Hanoi would propose the government further extending delay in payment of taxes and land rental fees, while assisting enterprises in penetrating new markets, Quan stressed.

Since early 2021, the Hanoi Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (Hanoisme) has held five dialogues with business associations, attracting the participation of over 400 enterprises.

Efforts from the local authorities have been regarded by the community as the city remained in Vietnam’s top 10 business-friendly localities for a third year running in 2020, ranking 9th out of 63 provinces/cities in the country’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2020 report.