Gov’t, businesses join hands to address tax, customs obstacles

Minister-Chairman of the Government Office Mai Tien Dung. Photo: VGP

Participants present at the meeting included representatives from Japanese Embassy, European Chamber of Commerce, and Vietnamese and foreign business associations.

The meeting is part of the Government’s efforts to enhance dialogues with business community in addressing obstacles in order to make the country’s business environment increasingly friendly to investors, said Dung, who is also the Government Spokesman.

According to Dung, PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc has pressed inferior levels to continue reforming administrative procedures and cutting business conditions as he chaired the Cabinet meeting on Thursday.

Dung affirmed the Government vows to continue slashing unreasonable procedures and hurdles and further accelerate e-Government in customs and tax areas.

All the comments and proposals at the meeting shall be summarized and reported to the Prime Minister for timely interventions in the direction of building an enabling Government as committed, said the Government Spokesman.

Since 2017, Vietnamese ministries and agencies have cut 402 out of 638 categories of products subjected to specialized inspection and 1,141 business conditions as required by legal regulations.

The Government planned to abolish as many as 3,259 out of 5,786 business conditions, according to a report of the Government Office.

Particularly, 405 tax procedures and 223 customs procedures have been cut since 2016 thanks to extensive application of information technology and national single window and ASEAN single window mechanisms.

The report also shows time required for tax payment and customs clearance has been reduced by 420 hours in 2013 to 111 hours in 2017./.

By Quang Minh