The Da Nang Party Committee Deputy Secretary, Mr Tran Tho, along with the People’s Committee Chairman, Mr Van Huu Chien, yesterday chaired a seminar entitled “Improving Da Nang’s Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) Rankings”.

The last 2 years saw Da Nang fall in the national PCI rankings into 5^th and 12^th places respectively in 2011 and 2012.  The fall is regarded as a big challenge for the city’s economic management system, and it is negatively affecting the local investment climate and business activities.

Some workers of the Hoa Tho Textiles and Garments Company

A recent survey of Da Nang’s PCI conducted by the city’s Institute for Socio-Economic Development, along with the competitive indices provided by the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), pointed out the main reasons why the city has fallen in the PCI rankings.  In detail, there is a drop in those indices which relate to local labour training, access to land use, and legal institutions.  In addition, although Da Nang topped the national index for information technology (IT) application readiness for the 3 consecutive years from 2010 to 2012, it fell to 7^th place among the 63 cities and provinces nationwide in terms of accessing information in last year’s rankings.

Deputy Secretary Tho urged local political organisations to find ways to deal with the above-mentioned issues.  Local relevant agencies were also asked to make proposals for enhancing management, perfecting policies, and improving the local investment environment in the near future.