ĐỒNG THÁP – Localities in the Mekong Delta region have improved their rankings in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), according to the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI).

In a conference on PCI in 2015 held in the Mekong Delta province of Đồng Tháp yesterday, the VCCI Cần Thơ’s chapter Deputy Head of the VCCI’s Legal Department, Phạm Ngọc Thạch, highlighted Đồng Tháp’s PCI, which puts the province in second place out of the 63 provinces and cities nationwide and first in the Mekong Delta region.

Đậu Anh Tuấn, Head of the VCCI’s Legal Department and Director of the Project on Enhancing Provincial Competitiveness, said improvements in administrative reform in the Mekong Delta region are seen in many aspects.

However, Tuấn said, the quality of labourers in the Mekong Delta region is still low, with only 31.2 percent of labourers untrained, the lowest level in the whole country.

The service assisting enterprises have yet to be developed and the quality of execution in some departments and sectors is limited.

According to representatives in Bến Tre and Vĩnh Long provinces and Cần Thơ City, to improve the PCI, it is necessary to improve the business environment, reform administrative procedures, use information technology, promote the investment environment and pro-business policies, and invest in infrastructure development.

Võ Hùng Dũng, Director of the VCCI in Cần Thơ, said that Mekong Delta localities would benefit from the PCI, which helps improve the image of the region and its attractiveness to foreign investors.

In 2015, the region attracted US$3.53 billion in foreign direct investment capital. -- VNS