At a conference in Hanoi on Monday to hear from foreign investors chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, AmCham Chairman John Rockhold said this was harming the country’s competitiveness.
The government should clarify regulations that slow down the effective implementation of foreign investments and review draft laws to avoid creating additional administrative burdens, he said.
Gaur Dattatreya, CEO of Bosch Global Software Technologies Company, said that frequent changes implemented to improve mechanisms and institutions in Vietnam often combine with unclear overlap of responsibilities between different authorities, leading to a lack of transparency and consistency in government policies and decisions.
This is seen in many different areas such as investment, import regulation and licensing, with inevitable negative consequences for the business world, he said.
David Whitehead, vice-president of the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Auscham), said Vietnam needs a comprehensive adjustment of licensing processes and procedures to create a more favorable business environment.
According to Whitehead, regulations on land use, tax incentives and issuance of work permits must be clearly stipulated in order to eliminate unnecessary procedures and conditions.
This will help attract large-scale foreign direct investment to Vietnam, especially in new industries such as semiconductors and chips, he said.
Other foreign-invested companies in Vietnam have also proposed that the country should focus more on developing human resources to serve high-quality foreign investment projects.
He said it was the way to modernize infrastructure and logistics and promote the green economy. He added that he would help implement specific actions in favor of the controversial imposition of a global minimum tax.
Chinh said he would protect “in all cases” the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in Vietnam.
The government’s policy is to always help enterprises overcome difficulties on the principle of harmonious benefits and shared risks, he added.
