On the morning of April 15, in Hanoi, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development USAID held a ceremony to announce the PCI 2020 Provincial Competitiveness Index 2020. Quang Ninh continues to excel at holding the leading position nationwide in this index for the fourth consecutive year.

Leaders of Quang Ninh province receive the PCI Champion Cup in 2020

Attendees of the ceremony were Mr. Daniel J.Kritenbrink, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America in Vietnam; Mr. Brad Bessire, Acting Director of USAID Vietnam; Dr. Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of VCCI.

On the side of the leaders of Quang Ninh province, there were: Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Mr. Nguyen Tuong Van, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Mr. Bui Van Khang, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; representatives of leaders of relevant departments, agencies, and business community.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Ky, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council, talked with Mr. Daniel J.Kritenbrink, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America in Vietnam and Mr. Brad Bessire, Acting Director of USAID Vietnam on the sidelines of the ceremony.

In 2020, the overall score of the PCI Provincial Competitiveness Index of Quang Ninh is 75.09 points, an increase of 1.69 points compared to 2019, maintaining the top position in the country and the only locality to score above 75 in this year's ranking. This is also the highest score ever of Quang Ninh.

Thus, Quang Ninh has excellently maintained for 4 consecutive years (from 2017 to 2020) winning the PCI Champion position and for 8 consecutive years being in the group of 5 central cities and provinces with the best quality of economic management in the country.

This result continues to affirm the people's trust in the government and especially the increasing satisfaction assessment of the business community and investors; accurately and objectively reflect the effectiveness of state management and administration of Quang Ninh, especially in the context of 2020 - a particularly difficult year for the business community due to the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The highlight of Quang Ninh's PCI index in 2020 is that the component indexes have significantly improved compared to 2019, such as: Market entry costs increased by 0.56 points; Access to land increased by 0.12 points (up 16 grades compared to 2019); Time cost increased by 0.64 points; Labor training increased by 0.46 points; Business support services increased by 0.9 points (up 17 grades compared to 2019); Legal institutions and security increased by 0.18 points. In addition, many indicators of Quang Ninh this year continue to maintain their ranking scores and far exceed the localities ranked lower.

Speaking after receiving the PCI 2020 Champion trophy, Mr. Nguyen Tuong Van, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, expressed his sincere thanks to the people, the business community, the Government and VCCI. For Quang Ninh, this 4th consecutive year PCI Champion is an extremely valuable and respectful reward.

The Chairman of Quang Ninh Provincial People's Committee emphasized: To achieve today's PCI results, Quang Ninh province always identifies the priority key task that is administrative reform, improving the quality of the business investment environment, the quality of economic management, the competitiveness, and creating all the most favorable conditions for enterprises to develop sustainably, in which focus on drastically implementing tasks and solutions based on 3 pillars, including: Actively and drastically reorganizing the political system apparatus, operating effectively and efficiently; strongly reforming administrative procedures, ensuring to reduce the composition of dossiers, reduce processing time, reduce implementation costs, and improve the quality of public services; and applying information technology, gradually modernizing the administrative system, promoting the effectiveness of e-government towards building digital government, digital economy, digital society and smart city.

Mr. Nguyen Tuong Van, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Ninh province, spoke at the ceremony.

Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Tuong Van also expressed: With the position of 4 consecutive years ranked as the Champion of the Provincial Competitiveness Index, the problem for Quang Ninh is “How to maintain the leading position, surpassing yourself?”. Recognizing the importance of PCI in socio-economic development, the Resolution of the XV Quang Ninh Provincial Party Congress, term 2020 - 2025, has set the target of "Every year maintaining the top position in the top group of leaders on the PCI, PAR Index, SIPAS, PAPI indexes". This is the first time, these indicators have been included as an important indicator in the Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress, and Quang Ninh is also the only locality in the country to include these indicators in the Document of the Congress. This is the commitment and companionship of the whole political system of Quang Ninh province with investors, businesses and people to build a government that serves, by the people, for the people, operating effectively and efficiently...

The PCI index has been jointly developed by VCCI and USAID since 2005 to assess the quality of economic governance, the level of convenience and friendliness of the business environment, and administrative reform efforts of the governments of provinces and cities of Vietnam, thereby promoting the development of the private economic sector. The PCI 2020 report is built based on feedback from nearly 12,300 enterprises, of which there are over 10,700 private enterprises operating in 63 provinces and cities and nearly 1,600 FDI enterprises operating in 22 localities in Vietnam.

Dr. Dau Anh Tuan, Head of VCCI Legal Department, preliminarily analyzes indicators in PCI rankings in 2020.

The results of the survey of FDI enterprises in 2020 show that Vietnam continues to be considered an attractive investment destination, with the advantage of political stability, gradually opening administrative procedures, , inspection and informal costs have been reduced. Foreign investors expect Vietnam to continue to control corruption, improve the quality of public service delivery, perfect the system of procedures and regulations, and strongly upgrade the quality of infrastructure.