A meeting to review the activities of the working group and Prime Minister’s advisory board on administrative reform was held by the Government Office in Hanoi on February 19.

 Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung praised the responsibility of the working group and the advisor board over the past three years for joining hands to work towards administrative reforms which have gained some positive results.

  For the first time, a national database on the administrative process was established, making Vietnam one of the top ten countries in implementing the administrative reform. The Deputy Prime Minister expressed his gratitude to domestic and international experts, organisations, staff and especially the businesses and people that have paid attention to the issue and supported the Government.

 He said that administrative reform is a good policy, a breakthrough towards building a transparent, united, effective and efficient system to fight corruption and strengthen the capacity of the administration. It shows the country’s nature to serve the interests of the people and businesses through the course of development.

Mr. Hung noted that administrative reform is one of the key issues in the entire political system. A solid administrative system with a good relationship with the people will require its staff to enhance their capacity. The daily changes in the system will create new administrative regulations which can override older ones. Staff should control the new regulations effectively and replace outdated ones. 

 Administrative reform is a strategic reform, a revolutionary change against obstacles and mechanisms that cause a lack of transparency in the system. It is of extreme socio-economic importance, he added.

 After three years of implementation (2007-2010), administrative reform through Project 30 has achieved some positive results to fulfill the Government’s commitment to create a solid and democratic people- and business-centred administration.

 The project finished the statistical works in 2009, and published the national database of administrative regulations on the internet with over 5,400 administrative formalities, 9,000 documents and 100,000 statistics. It has also helped standardise and unify administrative regulations in each city and province so businesses and people can access and supervise their implementation more easily.

 After reviewing the project in December 2010, the Government issued 25 resolutions to simplify nearly 5,000 regulations of 24 ministries and departments under State management. This will help reduce costs for businesses and individuals by 37 percent (around VND30 trillion annually).

 On the occasion, the Government Office introduced a department on administrative reform control which is in charge of inspecting the implementation of administrative reform in ministries, departments, cities and provinces across the country and cooperating with relevant agencies to receive feedback and make proposals to tackle problems related to administrative procedures.

 The Government Office also presented Prime Minister’s and Minister and Chairman of the Government Office’s certificates of merit to outstanding individuals and organisations for their contributions to simplifying the administrative procedures.

 (VNA)