Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has stressed that reforms of administrative procedures must be accelerated to bolster growth, noting that the public and business community still complain about prolonged and cumbersome administrative processes in State agencies. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

HÀ NỘI – Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has stressed that reforms of administrative procedures must be accelerated to bolster growth, noting that the public and business community still complain about prolonged and cumbersome administrative processes in State agencies. 
At a working session with the Administrative Procedure Control Department and the Advisory Council for Administrative Procedure Reform yesterday, the PM said the top requirement at present is to cut procedures to complete the disbursement of VNĐ1.5 quadrillion (US$6.6 billion) of investment capital from all sources within this year. 
He also requested improving taxation and customs procedures to boost exports, a key factor for growth. 
PM Phúc repeated the requirement to reduce expenses for enterprises and to limit inspections and audits to once a year for each firm. 
According to the advisory council, despite the instructions of the Government and PM, ministries, sectors and local administrations continue to issue or maintain unreasonable regulations, hindering business activities as well as peoples’ daily lives. 
The council said the drafting and promulgation of policies and administrative procedures are still influenced by the “ask-give” mechanism and vested interests. 
Therefore, the Government’s Office asked the PM for permission to review all regulations on administrative procedures as stipulated in legal documents issued by localities since 2015 up to now, aiming to detect and revise unnecessary, unreasonable and illegal procedures. 
Chairman of the Young Entrepreneurs Association Bùi Văn Quân said the problem lies in the implementation despite the resolve at the central level. 
Chairman of the Việt Nam Bar Federation Đỗ Ngọc Thịnh agreed that while the reform policy was in the right direction, enforcement remains weak. 
“The bottleneck in the process of reforming institutions and policies lies in the departments (of ministries),” Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management Nguyễn Đình Cung said. He called on ministers to be more sensitive to difficulties faced by enterprises. — VNS