The Da Nang authorities will make greater efforts for the benefit of the local business community in the years ahead. 

Secretary Anh at his interview with reporters

This statement was made by municipal Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh during his interview with reporters Khang Ninh and Xuan Duyen from the DA NANG Newspaper on the sidelines of the ceremony to announce the Viet Nam Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) for 2016 which was held in Ha Noi on Tuesday.  Da Nang has come out top in the PCI ranking for the 4^th consecutive year, and this is the 7^th time that the city has topped the ranking since its inception in 2005.

Secretary Anh remarked that the main reason why Da Nang came out top of the PCI 2016 is that the city authorities have always done their utmost to make Da Nang more liveable and attractive to businesses from both home and abroad.  Most notably, the very best conditions have been created for domestic and foreign businesses to operate effectively in the city.  Thanks to this, the significant efforts made by the government and the people of Da Nang have been highly appreciated by the business communities and international organisations over recent years.

Since its inception in 2005, the Viet Nam Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) has been a critical tool for measuring and assessing the standards of economic governance in the country’s 64 provinces from the perspective of private sector businesses.  The PCI is comprised of 10 sub-indices.  They are market entry costs, land access, transparency, time costs, informal charges, equitable competitive environment, proactive leadership, business support services, labour training, and legal institutions, with each accounting for 10 points.  The PCI 2016’s organisers had sent out questionnaires to 11,600 enterprises nationwide, of which around 14% were FDI enterprises.

Secretary Anh noted that Da Nang scored 70 points on the 100-point scale.  Although this secured its top position, these points are still lower than was expected.  He pointed out that the city did not score very highly in the criteria of ‘business support services’ and ‘proactive leadership in solving problems for enterprises’.  Therefore, in the years ahead, the city authorities will focus on improvements in these 2 areas, and more effective measures will be taken to create an equitable competitive environment, enhance administrative reforms, and issue more land access policies for local businesses. 

As for ways of attracting more FDI projects into the city, Secretary Anh re-affirmed the city’s firm stance on only approving new projects which are environmentally friendly and match with the city’s sustainable development strategies.  Over the past decade, the city authorities have even rejected some FDI projects which might have had a negative impact on the local environment.  In reality, a polluted environment would be likely to adversely affect local tourism which is one of the city’s economic spearhead sectors.  He added that the city is aiming to appeal for more FDI projects in  industrial and trade services, hi-tech industries, and other aspects.  The city always rolls out a red carpet to investors from both home and abroad and is committed to guaranteeing equal treatment of them all.